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Carbon Positive Australia

Represented by Louise-Marlena Tarrier

 

Answer

How does your organisation address climate change?

It has been projected that safeguarding and restoring carbon over the coming decades in our forests, peatlands and agricultural areas may reduce well over 50 gigatonnes (50,000,000,000 tonnes) of carbon emissions that would otherwise enter the atmosphere. Maintaining our forests and restoring our natural landscape will make a real difference in reducing climate change.

Researchers have identified a correlation between widespread land clearing and less rainfall in Western Australia’s Southwest region. This implies that reforestation may well have a positive effect on rainfall.

The link between climate change and biodiversity has long been established. Rapid climate change affects the ability for many species to adapt. As a variety of species become endangered and extinct, the natural biodiversity decreases.

We now know that mass plantings of a single species of tree doesn’t optimise the reduction of carbon and will do little to restore the natural biodiversity of our landscape. Carbon Positive Australia plants in an ecologically sensitive way to promote species diversity on degraded land. Many fossil fuel companies are undertaking their own "regenerative" projects across the country, but they are not biodiverse and will ultimately not be sustainable. At the same time, these projects are also taking up resources from nurseries that would otherwise be utilised effectively by organisations such as Carbon Positive Australia. This is a significant issue that needs more awareness. 

What is your organisation doing to create a better future?

Our approach to combat climate change is to take degraded, unused farmland and restore the natural habitat by planting a mix of native trees and shrubs that are indigenous to the area. Planting trees offsets the carbon emissions we (humans) create in our everyday activities. Every carbon offset you purchase, every tree you give, every dollar you donate, helps us to plant more trees and shrubs and restore more of the Australian landscape.

We also encourage and educate individuals, businesses and organisations to understand their carbon footprint and to offset their emissions through our projects. We had one of the very first household carbon calculators in Australia and we endeavour to provide a unique educational user experience alongside an accurate carbon calculation for all of our calculator users. This tool is becoming widely used by households and small businesses alike.

Carbon Positive Australia works alongside landholders to help them design and implement planting schemes that can be incorporated within any farming system and that help to restore degraded land and that assist with the carbon neutral goals of the industry.