Revegetation is defined as planting or direct seeding on land with minimal or no native vegetation and provides a form of biosequestration.

Biosequestration is a climate change mitigation activity. It is the capture and storage of the atmospheric greenhouse gas carbon dioxide by biological processes (Parliament of Australia, 2010). Investment in native vegetation establishment and management for biosequestration provides opportunities to improve our environment and can also provide adaptation benefits. If this is not well planned it can also pose risks, for example, fire, water availability and pest management. The challenge is to maximise the benefits and minimise the impacts from any investment in this area.

Figure 1 - Climate Change Priority Logic Diagram.

The CRP combines mitigation and vulnerability priorities to determine climate change priorities (see figure 1).  Mitigation priorities are modelled by combining carbon potential and biodiversity values (see map 1, CRP*). Vulnerability mapping is overlaid to provide combined mitigation and vulnerability (adaptation) priorities (see map). The resulting maps provide priority locations for climate change mitigation and adaptation activities (for more detailed examples see the LGA maps 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, CRP*). Maps identifying areas of ‘special interest’ for example, fire management, are accompanied with protocols for communication with relevant authorities. Protocols are designed to  ensure that appropriate communication, risks and opportunities are addressed as soon as possible.

Depending on the priorities of the investor and the proposed on-ground action the value of specific attributes can be increased and decreased, which will modify priorities. The maps can also be combined with other ‘special interest’ priority mapping to refine priorities. For example, the native vegetation mapping could be combined with priority mapping from the Trust for Nature State-wide Conservation Plan (Trust for Nature, 2013) or the Habitat 141 Landscape Conservation Plan (Koch, 2015).

The following conditions are mechanisms to maximise the benefits of large scale biosequestration activities and minimise the impacts. A series of maps accompany these mechanisms providing prioritised locations for native vegetation revegetation and management.

Native revegetation activities will:

• Occur in prioritised areas.
• Includes a local species mix that can cope with varying climates. For example on floodplains a mix of blackbox and redgum may need to be planted with appropriate understorey species.
• Occur on strategic fire breaks and roads where approval has been given by the relevant authority for example the Country Fire Authority (CFA) and relevant Local Government.
• Only occur within the prescribed distances for relevant assets identified in the Victorian Fire Risk Register (VFRR) with the support of the CFA. (A description of the methodology for this mapping is in Appendix B, CRP*)
• Not occur on road reserves or road easements unless approved by the relevant authority.
• Not occur near powerlines (within 50 metres).
• Occur adjacent to National Parks, State Forest and other public land parcels with the approval of Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning and the relevant CFA Region.
• Not occur on easements for example, railway lines, gas lines or telecommunication easements.
• Not occur within 500 metres of a Neighbourhood Safer Place.
• Not occur within the distance specified by the relevant Local Government planning scheme for airports and aerodromes or 1km where a planning scheme does not specify.
• Follow conditions in relation to GWM Water infrastructure: No trees within channel reserves or access tracks; No trees within 5 metres of the toe of a channel bank; No large species of trees within 20 metres of the centre line of a channel; No trees on a pipeline easement (most of the drinking water pipelines, for example, Dimboola to Nhill have easements across rural land); No trees within 5 metres of a pipeline (most of the Wimmera Mallee Pipeline is not covered by an easement); No large species of trees within 20 metres of a pipeline; No trees within 5 metres of a GWM Water facility / fence / structure.
• Be culturally sensitive and comply with the Victorian Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006.

 

*CRP refers to the Wimmera CMA's Carbon Ready Plan (http://www.wcma.vic.gov.au/docs/default-source/corporatedocs/Carbon-Ready-Plan/wimmera-carbon-ready-plan.pdf)