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Research by the Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Forestry shows many Australian farmers are interested in planting trees for the purpose of carbon sequestration, but won’t invest in this activity until they are confident a stable market with reasonable return is in place.

Tree planting for carbon sequestration needs to occur on cleared land, and typically requires accessing land currently managed by Australian farmers. The Federal government's proposed Carbon Farming Initiative, as well as ongoing promises of a forthcoming government-mandated carbon market, will likely expand the potential market for this activity.

The CRC’s research involved surveying landholders in New South Wales and examined when and why landholders are interested in planting for carbon sequestration, explored their perceptions of the costs and benefits of doing so, and identified gaps in the information available to farmers.

Many of the landholders surveyed had planted trees on their property in the past to provide shade and shelter for stock, improve aesthetics and rehabilitate land. While only 3.5 per cent of surveyed landholders had planted trees for carbon sequestration, more than 75 per cent are actively considering doing so, or might consider it in the future. However, there are many issues on which landholders would need more certainty before adopting the practice.

"There are concerns about whether planting trees for carbon sequestration will reduce land use flexibility through ‘locking up’ land to store carbon for 100 years, about the amount of time required to plant and manage trees and to a lesser extent about issues such as the amount of water used by the trees," said Dr Lyndall Bull. “The uncertainty of current markets and the risk of governments changing policy in the future were also significant barriers for a lot of people.”

It’s hoped the CRC research will be considered by policy makers and groups working to make tree planting for carbon sequestration a viable and well-adopted activity. The full results of the study will be published by the CRC for Forestry later this year.

Source: Tree Frog Daily Forestry News