Australia is in the early stage of building a national market designed to pay for nature. In broad terms this means do real work to restore the environment, earn a tradeable certificate for the result, and sell it to others who want to invest in nature. Two and a half years after the law that created it, the public register holds just two projects – and not a single certificate has yet been issued.
Nature repair projects will need to fit within an approved “method” – the rules on what work counts and how it is measured. There is currently only one method, which is for replanting native vegetation on land that was cleared in the past. Useful work, but it’s only a fraction of the restoration work needed, and it does not support helping existing forests recover, managing invasive species, supporting First Nations-led care of Country, and protecting places from further degradation.
Potential carbon credits, or biodiversity certificates, for improving the health of standing native forests are still being developed. These credits could be a game changer in supporting the health of forests that already store carbon and need active care to recover from past timber harvesting, altered fire, weeds and a changing climate.
That is why a central part of our work at the Healthy Forests Foundation is advocating for a method that rewards restoring the health of public native forests. We take part in the consultations shaping these methods, because the detail decides whether the markets work for the landscapes, communities and First Nations partners who deliver and live with the outcomes on the ground.
In the meantime, the restoration that is happening runs on grants and carbon, not on the biodiversity market. We are preparing projects now so when the right methods arrive, there is real work ready to go.
Active conservationCertificates and methodsValuing forests and economics