Albanese plan to reward farmers for good practice

Farmers will be paid to look after their land, protect threatened species and nurture habitats under ‘biodiversity certificates’, heralding the creation of a new market.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the ‘biodiversity certificates’ plan at the Bush Sumit on Friday. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Farmers will be paid to look after their land, protect threatened species and nurture habitats under “biodiversity certificates”, heralding the creation of a new market that would function similarly to a carbon credit trading scheme.

Under the plan, farmers would be awarded the certificates that could then be bought by public and private investors to offset projects where they may be affecting habitat, or where shareholders demand it.

Anthony Albanese, who announced the plan at the Bush Summit on Friday, said the new market would be open to all land managers, including farmers, conservationists and Indigenous land managers.

“This is a chance to support farmers using their knowledge and expertise in a way that benefits us all – a chance to shape a better future,” he said.

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek said businesses and philanthropic organisations were looking to invest in projects to protect and restore nature, and the scheme would “make this easier”.

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Gary Ramage

“We want carbon planting projects to deliver broader benefits for the environment. We can provide habitat for threatened species while also helping to address climate change,” she had.

“Repairing nature is good for productivity. Reducing erosion, protecting topsoil and providing shelter for livestock – it’s all good for business.”

Rules for the scheme, such as how biodiversity benefits should be measured and verified, will be consulted on and come into force in this term of government.

The National Farmers Federation welcomed the announcement and said the scheme would reward farmers practising sustainable land management.

Federation natural resources general manager Warwick Ragg said the credits would “create a new paradigm”.

“So you could be doing a ­development and you need to offset environmental damage. You could buy these credits, or another way to think about it is if you’re a responsible fund investor and you want to demonstrate to your investors and shareholders that you’re ticking the right boxes,” he said.

The World Wide Fund also welcomed the announcement and said the scheme “would ­finally recognise the value of ­nature”.

“Nature is often described as ‘priceless’. That’s part of its ­appeal, but in a market economy that makes nature practically worthless,” WWF-Australia’s acting head of healthy land and seascapes, Tim Cronin, said.

“(The scheme) is a chance to reward the many farmers, businesses and Indigenous land managers who are doing the right thing by nature and provide incentives for others to help ­regenerate Australia,” he said.

But Nationals leader David Littleproud accused Labor of rolling out a Coalition idea, which he called one of his “greatest achievements” while in government.

The Australia Institute also questioned the scheme, which it said would “see the conversion of Australia’s ecosystems into a new type of tradeable credit that would be traded to ‘compensate’ or ‘offset’ damage to the environment”.

“There are straightforward solutions to addressing species loss in Australia like ending ­native forest logging, regulating land clearing and paying landholders and communities ­directly to improve their habitats,” senior institute researcher Polly Hemming said.

Mr Albanese announced the scheme with a $75m boost for flood-affected regions to improve mitigation against future disasters, and a $2.4m boost to the Murray-Darling Basin plan.