On disused cane farms on the Sunshine Coast, the federal government is trying to put a price on nature.
Big emitters like power stations and steel smelters buy carbon credits as part of a compliance market, using them as offsets for carbon they emit over their set limits. Intertidal trees like mangrove can store between two and four times as much carbon compared to terrestrial forest.Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek says there will be many opportunities for projects like this to double-dip.
He says his work involves tracking restoration and benefits as they develop in order to show "how those systems are delivering value to us".Jim Binney, an independent, has no issue with the concept of a nature repair market, but worries about the high costs of administration and oversight. Mr Smart agrees administration costs "must be considered carefully", but believes a growing need for large companies to report their impacts, dependencies, risks and opportunities regarding the natural world will prove an opportunity for the market to prosper.