Carbon farming agribusiness on Aboriginal lands

Carbon farming has now been demonstrated to be a multi-million dollar agribusiness on Aboriginal lands, largely involving savanna burning in Cape York, Top End and the Kimberley. The success (or failure) of savanna burning projects has largely been due to Aboriginal ranger groups engaging in this new form of agribusiness through producing and selling their carbon credits into a market to cover the cost of production and make a small profit. 

As we enter the new carbon farming framework involving the Emissions Reduction Fund and secondary markets as well as the voluntary market, a number of considered decisions will need to be made and improved level of cooperation by the Aboriginal ‘primary producers’.

There are also a number of industry overheads that need to be addressed such as audit costs, legal advice, AFSL requirements, contractual make good provisions, membership of the CMI and liaison with the Clean Energy Regulator.