An indigenous group is hoping new carbon farming projects might enable them to regenerate drought-ravaged bushland in south-west Queensland.

The Budjiti Aboriginal Corporation, who hold native title in the Paroo Shire Council region, have been working with Climate Friendly to instigate carbon farming projects in the area for the past four years. The group now hopes to start its own regional projects in order to regenerate native plants, traditional medicines and bush tucker.

With the area drought-declared for six years straight now, graziers have often been forced to use native mulga trees to help feed livestock. It is hoped that by encouraging carbon farming, these trees can be protected while farmers are provided an alternative income.

Carbon farming is a term used to encompass the range of agricultural methods aimed at sequestering atmospheric carbon into the soil on agricultural land. This has the benefits of not only removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere but also increasing the carbon content of soil, which can encourage plant growth, increase soil organic matter, improve water retention and reduce fertiliser use. 

The projects set up by the Budjiti people will aim to farm carbon in a human-induced regeneration process where blocks of land are protected from agricultural use, creating living carbon stores. Farmers who sign up to the projects receive financial compensation for allowing these blocks of land to grow free of disturbance.

 

Positive Action

• To find out more about carbon farming and its environmental benefits visit Carbon Farmers of Australia, the pioneers of farm-based carbon offsets in Australia.
• If you want to support Australian farmers suffering through drought conditions visit Buy a Bale, which has now delivered over 160,000 bales of hay to farmers in need across Australia.

 

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Positive Environment News has been compiled using publicly available information. Planet Ark does not take responsibility for the accuracy of the original information and encourages readers to check the references before using this information for their own purposes.