Carbon farming not only benefits the climate by reducing GHG emissions and storing more carbon. It can also provide other benefits — called co-benefits — including:
- healthier and more productive soils, better managed and more productive livestock and pasture, better use of water
- more diversified income streams, increased income and the ability to deliver products for environmentally conscious supply chains consumers and overseas markets pursuing emissions reduction or nature positive policies
- improved biodiversity and ecosystems, such as connected habitat and traditional ecological practices that maintain a balance between human activities and the natural environment
- stronger, more resilient communities, better quality food, more jobs, better-protected settlements and infrastructure, and better community health
- direct benefits for First Nations people, including meaningful jobs on Country, independent revenue, getting back to and caring for Country and protecting cultural sites, and indirect benefits, including meeting cultural obligations, strong governance, community cohesion, self-determination, pride in community, and healthy Country.
Industry and government sustainability plans
Agriculture industry bodies have developed or are developing sustainability plans, as the following table shows. These plans include reducing GHG emissions, increasing carbon storage, and achieving carbon neutrality.
| Sector | Plan |
|---|---|
| Beef, sheep | Carbon Neutral by 2030 Roadmap (PDF 2.9 MB) |
| Cotton | Australian Cotton Sustainability Framework |
| Dairy | Australian Dairy Sustainability Framework |
| Grain | Grains Research & Development Corporation Sustainability Initiative 2023 (PDF 4.6 MB) |
| Horticulture | 2023/24 Australian-Grown Horticulture Sustainability Framework (PDF 12.6 MB) |
| Pork | Australian Pork Ltd Strategic Plan 2020–2025 (PDF 4.4 MB) |
| Poultry | Sustainability Framework Report 2020 (PDF 2.8 MB) (Australian Eggs) Chicken Meat Sustainability Strategy (being developed by the Australian Chicken Meat Federation) |
| Rice | AgriFutures Rice Program Strategic RD&E Plan 2021-2026 |
| Sugar | Sugar Research Australia Strategic Plan 2021–2026 (PDF 1.9 MB) |
| Wine | Wine Australia Emissions Reductions Roadmap (PDF 8.6 MB) |
These industry initiatives complement efforts by Australian, state and territory governments to help farmers and land managers respond to climate change. These efforts include:
- Australian Government climate change strategies, including a Net Zero 2050 plan currently being developed and the ACCU Scheme
- state and territory policies (such as Cutting Victoria’s Emissions 2021–2025: Agriculture sector emissions reduction pledge (PDF 3.8 MB) and the New South Wales Net Zero Plan and Climate Change (Net Zero Future) Act 2023
- state and territory programs (such as Queensland’s Land Restoration Fund).
Actions taken by governments are consistent with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, a framework for international cooperation and action to reduce GHG emissions and adapt to climate change impacts.
First Nations communities protecting culture and Country
Indigenous-owned carbon projects across Australia are making a huge difference to our lives through creating jobs and supporting opportunities for Indigenous people to care for country.
Cissy Gore-Birch and Dean Yibarbuk,
Indigenous Carbon Industry Network Co-Chairs
First Nations traditional ecological practices are deeply ingrained with cultural, spiritual, and ecological knowledge, and they focus on sustainability, ecosystem balance, and health.
For example, cultural burning — lighting slow, ‘cool’ fires early in the dry season — reduces the risk of hot summer bushfires that produce greater quantities of GHGs. Cultural burning, which is just one of many such traditional practices, also improves the richness of species.
Carbon farming activities can potentially align First Nations peoples’ traditional knowledge and recent science-based farming and land management methods by:
- focusing on efficient water use and sustainable irrigation practices, which is important in our dry continent and increasingly necessary to adapt to climate change impacts
- emphasising the interconnectedness of people, land and ecosystems (such as regenerative agriculture, which integrates economic, social and environmental considerations)
- using low-intensity planned burning to create firebreaks and a mosaic of burnt and unburnt land.
Carbon projects offer First Nations land managers the opportunity to generate income to support the carbon project and/or other community initiatives. So far, this opportunity has been accessed mainly by First Nations groups undertaking savanna fire management in northern Australia. Topics 2 and 5 provide information on savanna fire management.
There are further opportunities for First Nations land managers around Australia to participate in carbon projects. Carbon projects must follow approved ACCU Scheme methods. Land sector management activities (covered by methods) most relevant to First Nations groups can include:
- savanna fire management (Emissions avoidance method, or Sequestration and Emissions avoidance method)
- seed or tubestock planting to re-establish native vegetation (Reforestation by environmental or mallee plantings method)
- removal of tidal restrictions (Tidal restoration of blue carbon ecosystems method).
The Indigenous Carbon Industry Network’s 2022 Indigenous Carbon Projects Guide (PDF 8.5 MB) provides more information about the carbon industry for First Nations people. It covers the carbon market, ACCU Scheme method and project requirements and planning, and running a carbon project. It also has information specific to First Nations people, including Indigenous rights and interests, co-benefits and the power of story.
Watch these videos
In this video (6:10 minutes), Gail Reynolds-Adamson shares her insights into some of the traditional practices and benefits for First Nations farmers and land managers.
GAIL REYNOLDS-ADAMSON: So my name is Gail Reynolds-Adamson, I'm the chairperson for Esperance Tjaltjraak Native Title Aboriginal Corporation, and we're currently standing at Kardutjaanup, which is a property that we purchased a couple of years ago to look at carbon farming.
Our people have been doing carbon farming for millennia. We just didn't call it carbon farming back then. So where we are today is taking an ancient culture and applying modern technology to do the carbon farming and do it in different ways. So Tjaltjraak is a PBC and the PBC is a prescribed body corp, which once native title has been determined you set up a PBC for the organisation.
One of the issues that we found, with the organisation is that whilst we get a bundle of rights, there's nothing else that we get and so we had to look at innovative ways on how we can generate income into the future. Also, not only looking at generating income, but how do we look at it- do it in a sustainable way, and we do it in a way, which is, in line with us looking after Country and a part of our healthy Country plan. So the marriage between us and doing work in the carbon farming area was an area which we were interested in and certainly were like everything in the carbon farming, it's new. Each farm that we look at or each location that we look at, the technique that our specialists have to apply is quite different. But it's a way of us as an organisation to generate income into the future, and it's about self-determination.
And Esperance is a huge farming community. So if you're not in farming, you're not in the local economy.
This property here, we purchased it, and behind me is you'll see a peak, which is called Peak Charles, but we know it as Aboriginal people as Kardutjaanup. And when we purchased this property as Esperance Tjaltjraak to commence our journey into the carbon farming world, we decided that it was more appropriate to rename this property and call it Kardutjaanup, which is linking us to not only the Peak Charles or the peak behind us, but also to the UCL, the unallocated crown land, which is the land which we're trying to mimic back on Country here.
So Tjaltjraak are actually engaged in doing a number of different carbon farming products.
This one here at Kardutjaanup is actually broad acre. And then we've got another property, which is, Cocanarup, which is another property closer to to the coastline.
And that property there hasn't been as farmed as extensively as this one and other projects that we're involved in is around our healthy Country plan, which is planting our trees for carbon, but as part of restoration of Country at the same time. So it's just not one size fits all for us it's about looking at each of those locations. And as you saw with Kardutjaanup the harshness of this area, the low rainfall means that the technique that we applied last year hasn't quite worked.
We didn't get the growth that we wanted to. So we're gonna be trying a different technique each year. So each year, we're learning more. And it's like any piece of land it's about understanding your land, it's about applying different techniques, and what will have worked here may not work in another location.
How do we improve and how do we do something different from last year to have a better outcome next year? And if that doesn't work, then what do we need to do from the two years that we've learned, to then have something different the following year? So we're looking at the long term game here and sustainability into the future for future generations.
We employed our experts in this area who approached us in relation to an innovative way of looking at creating a sustainable income for us as an organisation, but doing one that's in line with our philosophy around caring for Country. And so carbon farming meets that, its about us generating income from selling the the carbon units, but also rejuvenation of our Country, you know, replanting Country and generating an income off that. So it's this holistic approach to how we actually look after Country, not just the traditional way that we've gone, on the coastal areas where we're actually funded by the government to do the rehabilitation. Here, it's a sustainable way that we're actually looking at as a private industry and a private company that we've actually entered into a business arrangement with to do carbon farming.
We have, you know, employment outcomes for our people. You know, we've got a large young Aboriginal population in our community, and 50 per cent of our population is under the age of 25. So it means that we've gotta find creative ways to employ, to train, and also the carbon farming and the different types of skills and techniques that required from both, you know, going out there and farming, planting trees, manually opposed to planting with the tractors.
All of those elements, elements of skills that we're teaching our mob and it's a different way of caring for Country. So it's restoration, it's carbon farming, and we're generating an income for us so that we're sustainable into the future as an organisation.
We're a year into carbon farming. It is so new, and we have so much to learn in this space. We don't know what the future holds for us in relation to if this is going to be successful.
But what we see is there's a glimmer of hope and part of that is the seedlings that, have broken through and and the resistance that some of them had in such a harsh environment. And then we also the outcomes, the employment outcomes for our mob is just so important. You know, they're learning things outside of just being a ranger. They're coming out and learning to be farmers.
And along the way, we grow the knowledge with our community with our mob. It’s about, you know, self-determination for us is about looking at how do we actually do farming in a different way, today, but a way in which we have been doing for thousands of years, but applying different techniques today to be able to have the same outcomes on caring for Country.
This video from the Clean Energy Regulator (6:48 minutes) explains how First Nations savanna burning works in Northern Australia and its many benefits, including reducing emissions.
With its vast and rugged landscapes, immense beauty, wildlife, scenery, history, lore, culture and ancient art. Northern Australia is one of the most spectacular places on earth. However, like all our natural treasures it remains vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. The good news though, there's some amazing work happening right here on these impressive landscapes to help combat it. G’day, Ernie Dingo here. I'm sharing a story of how fire management across the top half of Australia is helping to reduce emissions, benefit community and businesses, and help the environment. That fire has been part of our lives since the beginning of time. We probably invented fire. Healthy Country, healthy people, and fire played a big part in that.
Embedded in the culture and in the land, traditional fire management has been more recently reinvigorated with the support of the Australian Government's Emissions Reduction Fund. The fund supports farmers, Indigenous Australians, and other businesses to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It's the ways of burning country so we have green grass to grow again. And it's more like burning a bit earlier than having a late fire.
Our Country is better looked after when savanna fire management projects are underway. These projects restore the similar fire regime that was used for tens of thousands of years by Indigenous Australians. These projects are creating healthier ecosystems with benefits for plants and animals. We've seen all the tracks for wallabies, big kangaroo and the small one, they just came back, when we had a fire. All our old people, they were telling the story about you do 'right way' fire, you will get good rain, animal will come back, a lot of good flower, good honey. Savanna fire management reduces emissions by reducing frequency and extent of destructive late dry season wildfires. these huge wildfires are bad for the climate, damaging our atmosphere. Savanna projects use the latest science to track fire management activity and estimate emission reductions. This translates into Australian carbon credit units. So far savanna projects have already reduces more than 7 million tonnes in emissions.
This story of savanna fire management isn't a new one. These techniques have been used for tens of thousands of years but it's the 'right way' fire mob who's been combining modern science and traditional knowledge to build an industry and make a big difference in our Country. Projects are generating income by selling carbon credits to the Government and businesses. With the extra income, project participants are able to spend money on more important projects to look after their community and Country.
It brings in more opportunities, more jobs for local people and our people as well, so that, you know, people can continue what we're doing today - is keep on looking after the land and our Country. We're using helicopter because we're earning good income from a carbon program. And the money that we bring from carbon, we distribute to the community, and we get rangers and TO's more salary, and getting more equipment. Fire was there for many reasons. Cleaning up Country, cleaning spirit, so that families can go back and use that Country. Paying respect for that Country. We've got that fire, it brings life. And them old people living, they say you do 'right way' fire, you get em good fish, you get em good rain, you get em, Country it reward you.
Being a woman ranger, it's just great. You get to go around and see a lot of other places and you know what's happening on their land and we know and they know what's happening on their land.
Being a ranger is my dream job and it's really great, taking kids around country and learning about culture and stuff Carbon farming is good for us cause we have a ranger job. Wunambal Gaambera has our rangers. It’s good for, like, it's good for like, to get people back out on Country, and keep their Country strong and healthy.
Well it helps, it helps to employ more young people and then you know it helps us to buy more equipment. Saving the planet, making money, but something we've been doing for centuries.
Our ancestors have been using fire for hunting, gathering, even using fire for getting 'right way' married. So fire it's a big stuff for us.
Savanna fire mob have been combining modern science and traditional knowledge to build an industry and make a big difference in our Country.
This film was produced by bush TV Enterprises on behalf of the Australian Government. Bush TV.
Activity: Your land and First Nations people
Reflect on your connection to your land and consider the following questions.
- What is its history?
- Do you know which Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander group are the Traditional Owners of your land?
There is more information on the Map of Indigenous Australia.
Caring for Country practices we want, such as fire management, weed management, feral animal management, revegetation programs, traditional food harvesting, cultural mapping and ecological surveys, provide an opportunity for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to reestablish or strengthen their connection to Country.
For such a long time, people lived on Country, managing fire and the Country for thousands and thousands of years. But nobody lives here and walks here like the old people did. Now, fires have become too fierce because we haven't been managing fire, so destructive fires have come. The ways of the old people have passed, we need to make new ways to make this land healthy.
Dean Yibarbuk, Warddeken Land Management Ltd (Co-chair) and Co-Chair,
Indigenous Carbon Industry Network