CARBON AND ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICE MARKETS IN RANGELANDS: A COLLECTION OF ARTICLES IN THE RANGELAND JOURNAL

December 6, 2024

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Bradd Witt, Chair of the ARS Publications Committee.  Email: bwitt@uq.edu.au

 

The Rangeland Journal has recently put together a collection of articles (what used to be called a Special Issue) looking at Carbon and Environmental Service Markets.  These articles will be of interest to a wide range of readers and are now available free of charge on the Rangeland Journal website through the following link – https://www.publish.csiro.au/rj/collection/12114.

 

Why a Special Issue on Carbon and Environmental Service Markets?

Because of the extent of rangelands, they have the potential for significant carbon sequestration. Legislation at the National and State and Territory levels has enabled formal markets for the capture of carbon in soil and vegetation under a range of methods. This policy and regulatory change triggered a rapid emergence of markets and uptake of what can be loosely referred to as “carbon farming” in Australia. Most of this occurred in the rangelands.

The concept of creating a market that pays land holders to modify their land use practices (termed ‘additionality’) to allow carbon to be retained in vegetation and soil appears at first glance relatively uncontroversial. The assumption is that the government created a market to meet the demand for offsetting emissions, and benefits will flow onto land holders sequestering carbon, improving their financial viability while also stimulating other co-benefits. It was with these intentions that the markets were created in a range of countries including Australia.

However, there has been considerable critique, concern and conflicting views in academic and other public circles about the effectiveness, legitimacy and transparency of these markets and their ability to reliably store the quantity of carbon, over the long term, that was anticipated.

Given the levels of uncertainty and potential for conflict, it is surprising that there has been relatively little formal evaluation and scrutiny of carbon and environmental service markets in rangelands until very recently. Members of the ARS Publications Committee identified this as a significant gap and this led to the creation of this collection of papers (Special Issue) providing a wide variety of views about the validity of carbon sequestration in the rangelands as a bio-physical and managerial contribution to Australia’s approach.