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Carbon sequestration from revegetation

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Summary

Revegetation for biodiversity enhancement, environmental services, dedicated carbon crops, farm forestry, renewable bioenergy crops and fodder shrubs have the potential to sequester significant amounts of carbon in South Australia.

This page will help you:

understand the benefits of carbon sequestration from revegetation
understand what the nature repair market is
access reports and outcomes from the Carbon Sequestration from Revegetation project
access carbon sequestration calculators for revegetation projects.

Carbon sequestration from revegetation benefits

Revegetation projects sequester carbon by capturing atmospheric carbon through photosynthesis, storing it in the plants’ woody biomass and soil.

Protecting or enhancing native vegetation is a cost-effective may to promote vegetation-based carbon sequestration in soils. This includes:

setting aside areas of native vegetation that won’t be cleared for farming activities
promoting vegetation regrowth (natural regeneration) in cleared areas
reforestation (planting seeds or seedlings).

These activities build up carbon and plant biomass in the soil, helping to mitigate climate change, whilst also improving vegetation diversity in the area, providing habitat for native species, improving soil health and potentially providing additional income through carbon credit and nature repair market schemes.

The Nature Repair Market is a nationally legislated initiative (under the Nature Repair Act 2023; Cth), aimed at delivering biodiversity outcomes. This allows farmers and land managers to generate ‘biodiversity certificates' for approved projects which improve ecosystem health. This includes projects which incorporate:

native revegetation on farmland
re-establishing vegetation along waterways
enhancing existing native vegetation through the implementation of invasive species controls

The Nature Repair Market aligns with the Australian Carbon Credit Unit (ACCU) scheme, allowing land managers to earn both carbon credits and nature repair market certificates for the same project.

The Carbon Sequestration from Revegetation project provided evaluations of the growth, productivity and carbon sequestration rates of native plants species planted in woodlots and environmental planting across several regions of South Australia. This research also detailed the development of allometric techniques for assessing plant biomass for carbon accounting and inputs into national Carbon Farming Initiative carbon accounting tools.

A series of research reports detailing the outcomes of this project are provided below:

Region	Report Title
All SA Agricultural Regions	Carbon sequestration from revegetation: South Australian agricultural regions
Eyre Peninsula	Carbon sequestration from targeted carbon revegetation in the Wild Eyre region
Murray-Darling Basin	Carbon sequestration and biomass production rates from agroforestry in lower rainfall zones (300-650 mm) of SA: Southern Murray-Darling Basin Region
	Carbon sequestration from revegetation: Southern Murray-Darling Basin Region
	Plant biometrics and biomass productivity in the River Murray Dryland Corridor
South East	Woody biomass productivity and potential biomass industries in the Upper South East
Yorke Peninsula	Carbon sequestration from targeted carbon revegetation in the Southern Yorke Peninsula region

A carbon sequestration from revegetation estimator was developed as part of the 'carbon sequestration from revegetation' project (excel calculator; best downloaded through Google Chrome). This tool estimates average above-ground carbon sequestration rates and plant stocking rates for a variety of revegetation types.

The Full Carbon Accounting Model (FullCAM) can be used to estimate carbon sequestration for revegetation, reforestation and forest management projects. This tool links in with the methodologies under the ACCU scheme. This tool tracks carbon sequestration above and below ground as part of its modelling.

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