Australian supplies and knowledge of its native seeds are inadequate for the scale and demand necessary for the government’s proposed voluntary biodiversity credit market, according to experts.

The Labor party has put the legislation for its voluntary, government-backed biodiversity restoration market on hold for the moment, in order for it to consult more widely on the matter, after a variety of concerns were raised with the proposed scheme in its current form.

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has promoted the NRM as a way to encourage investment into nature restoration on private land, as part of efforts to begin to repair Australia’s rapidly degrading landscapes and biodiversity.

Documents tabled to the parliamentary committee scrutinising the bill showed that Helene Marsh, chair of the Threatened Species Scientific Committee (TSSC), wrote to Tanya Plibersek in April, warning about the dearth of knowledge of Australia’s native seeds.

The letter highlighted that the availability of seeds is essential to successful restoration of plant communities under the nature repair market, and that information regarding seed collection, germination, storing, and technology deficit was “urgently required”.

“This matter is as important for nature repair as rare minerals are for renewable energy and could perhaps be a national initiative,” Marsh wrote.

The Australian Academy of Science made similar comments in its own submission to the legislation, saying there was a “pressing need for greater scientific data” on seed supplies for native plant species to address existing gaps in biodiversity knowledge.

Marsh went on to say in her letter that information was needed regarding the complexities of putting ecosystems back together, investment was required in generating better information and research requirements, and cost curve abatement to encourage the protection of habitat needed.

In response to Marsh’s letter, Minister Plibersek said the TSSC’s expertise was a “vital contribution” to reforms that would help improve outcomes for Australia’s threatened biodiversity, and that her letter had been passed on to relevant areas of the Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water.

“I have asked them to ensure that your concerns are addressed, including through reform processes currently underway,” she wrote.

When approached for comment, TSSC referred Carbon Pulse to Rachael Gallagher, associate professor in plant ecology and conservation at Western Sydney University.

Gallagher told Carbon Pulse that Australia has a well-developed seed-banking system, coordinated by the Australia Seedbank Partnership, which contributes collections and data to the International Millennium Seedbank, and the Kew Botanic Gardens –  initiatives designed for safeguarding plants from extinction by storing representative samples of the species from across their distribution.

However, Gallagher said these initiatives were not equipped for supplying large-scale nature repair initiatives.

“They do not aim to house adequate quantities of seed for this style of purpose,” she said.

She said that Australia has roughly 40 major seed suppliers from which it is only currently possible to purchase seeds for around 12% of the Australian plant species, equating to 2,900 of the 25,000 species.

“Although some suppliers will collect ‘on contract’, where they are commissioned to collect for a particular selection of species needed in a restoration project, this is not likely to be routine,” Gallagher said.

“Given that, on average, land clearing has already led to major reductions in the size of plant species populations, we are asking a lot of plants to be able to contribute adequate seeds for restoration from diminished populations.”

Gallagher referred to a study by herself and other Australian scientists, published in the Biological Conservation journal, which showed that the average plant species has lost 33% of its range to land clearing.

It also said that protection and clearing have unevenly affected species with different growth forms, range sizes, and distributions across agricultural land capability.

It said woody vegetation was more likely to have been cleared in Australia, which has important implications for carbon stocks and highlights the role of halting land clearing to address the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss.

The Australian Network for Plant Conservation (ANPC) told Carbon Pulse that it has previously undertaken assessments of seed availability and identified a “high level of concern” across the native seed sector that future demand for seed would be difficult to meet from the wild.

“This is due to the high costs of seed collection and the lack of seed from a broad range of the species that are critical for restoration. Bushfires and floods can exacerbate this,” it said.

“There may not be enough native seed in many regions to support the large-scale restoration required for landscape recovery.”

INHERENT RISKS

Gallagher went on to note that there were inherent risks in allowing projects in a biodiversity market to trade in restoration of threatened plant species.

Increasing the collection of seed from species that are already imperilled could reduce their ability to buffer against climate-related disturbances such as fire and drought, Gallagher said.

Seed wastage was also raised as a potential risk, given that there are many Australian species that have specific and complex germination requirements, which may be unknown or hard to emulate.

“The risk of seed wastage is high if the techniques are not perfected,” Gallagher said.

Mixing genes between populations where seed from one location is introduced to another, which could cause maladaptation to stressors, such as climate change, or by swamping locally-adapted genotype, according to Gallagher.

In its submission to the parliamentary committee, TSSC said Australia’s capacity to deliver the NRM would depend on a robust seed supply chain from source and improving seeding success in the field.

It said this was a field that was “fundamentally un-resourced to deliver nature positive restoration”.

The submission said dedicated funding for innovation in seed-based restoration technology, seed supply, and development was also needed.

It went on to say that the Biodiversity Integrity Standards in the legislation would need to be reviewed annually drawing upon best-practice guidelines for restoration, including seed treatments and plant propagation.

The submission highlighted that the legislation refers to methodology determination that results in enhancement or protection of biodiversity in native species, saying the assumption is that enhancement refers to the plantings of native species.

It also said the method determination must indicate how the genetic consequences of this ‘enhancement’ may be managed through plant propagation material collection guidelines, or through reference to best-practice guidelines for conservation translocations.

The submission also said that First Nations participation would be critical to successful outcomes for Australia’s biodiversity, and that a Indigenous-led framework should be used to validate the environmental and cultural heritage values to be delivered through the scheme.

Responding to questions from Carbon Pulse, a spokesperson from the Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water said the government was supporting activities to address seed availability, including through the National Seed Bank, and undertaking pilots that would help inform activities under the NRM.

“The availability of seed is one component of nature restoration across Australia,” the spokesperson said.

“The department will continue to work with a range of experts to support necessary information and knowledge as part of developing a nature repair market.”

The ANPC said the further development and funding of seed production areas – where native species are cultivated for their seeds, like agricultural crops – would be critical to meeting seed needs and preserving wild populations.

“High quality seed from a range of native species is the foundation for restoring many of our threatened plants and natural landscapes,” it said.

The government intends to revisit the NRM legislation later this year.

Panellists told a conference in Brisbane last week that a voluntary biodiversity market would be active in Australia in the near future, whether the government was successful at passing its legislation or not.

By Mark Tilly – mark@carbon-pulse.com

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