Rangelands Carbon Thumbs Up
Author: Rueben Hale | Published: March 14, 2018
Agriculture Minister Alannah MacTiernan believes a WA carbon farming industry could be possible for the rangelands under existing pastoral lease legislation.
Ms MacTiernan will meet legal experts tomorrow to “get a sense” of how a carbon industry could be developed on pastoral land without changes to the Land Administration Act.
Recent modelling shows the average Southern Rangelands pastoral lease could earn $145,000 to $195,000 a year from the industry.
The minister is under pressure to get the pastoral lands reforms under way since taking responsibility from Lands Minister Rita Saffioti last year.
She listed carbon farming as a vital opportunity to be explored but says native title, government ownership rights and other agency issues had made it hard.
“I understand the frustration of many people living in the rangelands, and we need to move quickly on these issues,” she said.