Climate Caf Carbon Farming vs Biodiversity - Can we do both? David - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Climate Café

Carbon Farming vs Biodiversity - Can we do both?

David Freudenberger, Fenner School of Environment and Society

Australian National University

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2 Adapted from Dr Heather Keith, Fenner

Principles of ‘Carbon Farming’ – a mitigation strategy

Deforestation

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Global carbon cycle

From: Mackey, B, Prentice, I, Steffen, W, Keith H, Berry S (2013) Nature Climate Change, vol. 3, pp. 552-557.

Finite capacity

Options to replenish the Land Carbon Stock

Avoid deforestation – ‘a given’ (but difficult)

• A. Avoid native forest harvesting
• B. More Plantations (fastwood)
• C. Ecological restoration (‘biodiverse carbon’)

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Fossil Living Cleared

Option A. Cease harvesting native forests

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From: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-27/neville-smith-forest-products-warning-tasmanian-forest-wars/8307064

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100 200 300 400 500 100 200 300 Stand age (years) Total biomass carbon stock (tC ha

• 1)

Option A. Cease harvesting native forests – Theoretical carbon gain

From: Keith, H, Lindenmayer, D, Mackey, B et al 2014, Ecosphere, vol. 5, no. 6, pp. 1-34

harvest

Regrowth carbon stock

Potential Carbon gain Clear fell

Long-term carbon dynamics in a harvested Mountain Ash forest

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200 400 600 800 1000 1200

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40 90 140 190 240

Biomass carbon stock (tC ha-1) Time (years) wildfire regrowth forest harvested forest living biomass coarse woody debris products landfill

From: Keith, H, Lindenmayer, D, Mackey, B et al 2014, Ecosphere, vol. 5, no. 6, pp. 1-34

1.2 %

16% processing waste 20% paper products 4% sawn timber products

Transfer of TOTAL carbon stocks in a harvested Mountain Ash forest

Longevity

• f products

30-90 yrs 1-3 yrs <1 yrs ~50 yrs 30% waste left on-site 30% slash burnt <1 yrs 1.2% in landfill ~350 yrs

From:Keith H, Lindenmayer D, Macintosh A, Mackey B. 2015. PLoS doi: 10.1371

Option B. More Plantations (fastwood crop)

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Above-biomass of Victorian Pine plantations

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From: Gierson, P.F., Adams, M.A. and Attiwil, P. M (1992) Australian J. Botany 40, 631

Average harvest age

Option C. Ecological restoration – Biodiverse Carbon

(Case study: voluntary carbon offset – Greenhouse Friendly Program)

11 2008 2010 2011 2012 2013 2017

Photos sequence from P101b

Degraded, Dysfunctional, Biologically simple Restored?, Functional? Biologically diverse?

Photo credit: Freudenberger Project description: J. Jonson 2010 Ecological Management & Restoration 11: 16–26

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Biodiverse carbon Case Study -

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‘Peniup’ Greening Australia Ltd (eNGO)

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3 km

Greening Australia’s Peniup Property ~ 1200 ha

Plot 136, April 2015

‘Peniup’ Greening Australia Ltd (eNGO)

Monitored since 2009

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Thanks Ellen, Cleo and Rowan! (April 2015 )

October 2008

P103b: Peniup photo monitoring point, 34.08567, 118.8611 (WGS84)

Planted July 2008, see J. Jonson 2010 Ecological Management & Restoration 11: 16–26

April 2010 April 2011 May 2012 April 2013

P103b: Peniup photo monitoring point, 34.08567, 118.8611 (WGS84)

Planted July 2008, see J. Jonson 2010 Ecological Management & Restoration 11: 16–26

April 2014 April 2017

Colourful Biodiverse Carbon = dozens of locally native species (in perpetuity?)

Discussion questions

• 1. What do you see as the trade-offs between

these three possible forms* of carbon farming?

• 2. Should a price on carbon be incentivising all,

none or some of these?

• 3. What proportion (cents in the dollar) of any

funding should go towards carbon farming vs

• ther mitigation strategies?

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* avoided harvesting, plantations, ecological restoration

Additional Slides for elaboration

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Challenges of Biodiverse Carbon

23 2008 2010 2011 2012 2013 2017

Photos sequence from P101b

Peniup carbon – spatially variable after 5 years

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Perring, M., Jonson, J., Freudenberger, D., Parsons, R. Rooney, M., Hobbs, R., Standish, R.J. (2015) Forest Ecology and Management 344, 53-62.

• E. occidentalis

• Biodiverse Carbon??

Results: Outcomes on the ground @ $1000-1500/ha?

Vegetation Association Species richness 2014 Sown and planted 2008 % species established Light Yate 13.3 (0.8) 31 + 1 42.9 Sandy Yate 7.3 (2.4) 25 + 1 29.2 Upland Yate 8.0 (1.4) 25 + 1 32.0 Sandy Gravel 9.4 (0.75) 25 + 0 37.6 Duplex 9.3 (0.95) 49 + 0 19.0 Pallid Clay 7.0 (1.03) 39 + 0 17.9 Gully 7.7 (1.3) 22 + 1 35.0 8.9 30.5 Mean 9.3 STD

Perring et al. (2015) Soil-vegetation type, stem density and species richness influence biomass of restored woodland in south-western Australia. Forest Ecology and Management 344, 53-62.

P102d: Peniup photo monitoring point, 34.09121, 118.8584 (WGS84)

Planted July 2008, see J. Jonson 2010 Ecological Management & Restoration 11: 16–26

April 2010 April 2011 May 2012 April 2013

P102d: Peniup photo monitoring point, 34.09121, 118.8584 (WGS84)

Planted July 2008, see J. Jonson 2010 Ecological Management & Restoration 11: 16–26

April 2017 Seed capsules – indicator self-sustaining system?

P101a: Peniup photo monitoring point, 34.08997, 118.8602 (WGS84)

Planted July 2008, see J. Jonson 2010 Ecological Management & Restoration 11: 16–26

April 2010 April 2011 Note, zoomed in rather than wide angle May 2012 April 2013 Bare soil

P101a: Peniup photo monitoring point, 34.08997, 118.8602 (WGS84)

Planted July 2008, see J. Jonson 2010 Ecological Management & Restoration 11: 16–26

April 2014 April 2015 April 2016 April 2017 ‘Litter’ accumulation

Compared to ‘Reference’ Site conditions

Foliose Lichen: sign of low disturbance (Reference Conditions)

www.greeningaustralia.org.au September 2011 Seeded August 2009 September 2012

GA’s ‘Nurcong’ Property: Western Victoria, Biodiverse Carbon

Challenges, Opportunities, Trade-offs

• Plantations

Fenner School’s Nanangroe project

Overview of the Nanangroe research project

Key features: 16 years 131 sites 300 Km2

Winners and losers

Pine matrix Control – pasture matrix Pines Pasture Year Colonization probability Colonization probability Year

The matrix matters

• OUTSIDE matrix influences populations WITHIN

the habitat patches

• 90% of the bird species were s affected by pine

plantations (N=64 species)

• ~ 50% positively
• ~ 50% negatively

Mortelliti, A. and Lindenmayer, D. B. (2015), Effects of landscape transformation on bird colonization and extinction patterns in a large-scale, long-term natural experiment. Conservation Biology, 29: 1314–1326. doi:10.1111/cobi.12523

Plantation reversions back to leaky agriculture

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12,800 ha net Decrease

References

Mortelliti, A. and Lindenmayer, D. B. (2015), Effects of landscape transformation on bird colonization and extinction patterns in a large-scale, long-term natural experiment. Conservation Biology, 29: 1314–1326. doi:10.1111/cobi.12523 Keith H, Lindenmayer D, Macintosh A, Mackey B. 2015. Under what circumstances do wood products from native forests benefit climate change mitigation ? PLoS doi: 10.1371 Keith, H, Lindenmayer, D, Mackey, B et al 2014, 'Accounting for biomass carbon stock change due to wildfire in temperate forest landscapes in Australia', PLOS ONE (Public Library of Science), vol. 9, no. 9, pp. e107126. Keith, H, Lindenmayer, D, Mackey, B et al 2014, 'Managing temperate forests for carbon storage: impacts of logging versus forest protection on carbon stocks', Ecosphere, vol. 5, no. 6, pp. 1-34. Mackey, B, Prentice, I, Steffen, W, Keith H, Berry S 2013, 'Untangling the confusion around land carbon science and climate change mitigation policy', Nature Climate Change, vol. 3, pp. 552-557. Keith, H, Mackey, B & Lindenmayer, D 2009, 'Re-evaluation of forest biomass carbon stocks and lessons from the world's most carbon-dense forests', PNAS - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States

• f America, vol. 106, no. 28, pp. 11635-11640.

Perring, M., Jonson, J., Freudenberger, D., Parsons, R. Rooney, M., Hobbs, R., Standish, R.J. (2015) Soil-vegetation type, stem density and species richness influence biomass of restored woodland in south-western Australia. Forest Ecology and Management 344, 53-62.