Standard Presentation 2024 Australian Marine Sciences Association Annual Meeting combined with NZMSS

Lessons learned from a blue carbon project in a Great Barrier Reef catchment. (#244)

Will Hamill 1
  1. Great Barrier Reef Foundation, BRisbane, QLD, Australia

The national carbon market in Australia has created a new financing option for voluntary restoration activities by enabling the generation and sale of carbon credits for projects that can demonstrate carbon sequestration in vegetation and soils. Most of these carbon projects are currently occurring in the Australian rangelands. With the release of the Tidal Restoration of Blue Carbon Ecosystems ACCU Scheme method in 2022, it is possible to facilitate coastal restoration through the removal of tidal barriers to reintroduce tidal exchange under an accredited blue carbon project. In this presentation, we will share lessons learned from the development of a large-scale (>300Ha) blue carbon project on private land within a Great Barrier Reef catchment in Queensland, Australia. We will present our findings on the regulatory, technical, and financial feasibility undertaken for this project. Along with potential opportunities and challenges that have emerged. The outcomes are relevant to other organisations working with landholders to enable and scale coastal restoration on private land through environmental markets. This project has been a collaboration between the landholders, the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, James Cook University and Restore Blue.