A project developer is planning to draw up a methodology for wildlife sanctuaries under Australia’s Nature Repair Market (NRM), hoping to earn voluntary biodiversity credits to fund the protection of rare and threatened species.

Carbon Neutral is planning to develop the methodology over the next six months for the 1,000-hectare Hughes Block in the northern wheatbelt region of Western Australia, which was recently listed as a Threatened Ecological Community under the state’s Biodiversity Conservation Act.

The company has previously established that the threatened malleefowl is present in the area, and recently a team of volunteers from the its Citizen Science Programme spotted a rare marsupial – called Woolley’s false antechinus – using a night camera.

“Good evening.” Photo: Carbon Neutral

The mouse-like creature – Pseudoantechnius woolleyae – was only recognised in 1988, and has been sighted so rarely it has yet to be given a common name or have a designated conservation status, according to Carbon Neutral.

“As far as we know this may be the first time it has been recorded in the wheatbelt,” Dr. Nic Dunlop, part of the voluntary team that spotted the creature, said in a statement.

The sighting has strengthened the company’s reserve to create a wildlife sanctuary for Hughes Block, and after the federal government legislated the Nature Repair Market in December, it will explore the possibility of generating biodiversity credits to fund the work.

“We’re undertaking ongoing biodiversity monitoring and will be working on our own methodology over the next six months. This will involve exploring application of nature accounting frameworks,” a Carbon Neutral spokesperson told Carbon Pulse.

NEW GROUND

No methodologies have been developed yet under the newly legislated scheme, and the process forward is one of several key issues that the government has yet to clarify, and that continues to concern observers and market participants.

“Our understanding is we can create the biodiversity credit certification process or use an established natural capital accounting framework currently,” the Carbon Neutral spokesperson said.

“It will be open to individuals or companies to ‘invest’ in the project that protects, restores, or enhances biodiversity.”

Australia plans to issue just a single biodiversity credit to each project participating in the NRM, with the project’s achievements attached to it, no matter how big or small.

Critics have said the approach might impact demand, especially from big projects, as potential buyers will have to pay for projects’ entire biodiversity outcome, rather than only part of them as would be an option if multiple credits were issued.

Regulators have also yet to clarify how the NRM will co-exist with the domestic carbon offset market, and whether the same project area will be allowed to generate both biodiversity credits and Australian Carbon Credits Units (ACCUs).

The Hughes Block is part of the 18,000-ha Yarra Yarra Biodiversity Corridor (GS3039), for which Carbon Neutral has received almost 176,000 carbon credits from the Gold Standard, making it one of the few Australian projects participating in one of the international carbon standards.

However, the block itself is not generating any carbon credits, according to Carbon neutral.

“The biodiversity credits will be on a 1,000-ha remnant vegetation block, not eligible for carbon credits,” said the spokesperson.

While no voluntary biodiversity methodologies have yet been developed for the NRM, there are others under preparation, such as Terrain Natural Resource Management’s work to design a cassowary credit scheme to protect rainforests in remote northern Queensland.

However, it remains unclear whether that programme will seek to align with the NRM or generate independent credits, such as GreenCollar Group’s NaturePlus credits.

By Stian Reklev – stian@carbon-pulse.com

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