Noel Pearson's plan to unlock the carbon riches of Cape York

ABORIGINAL leader Noel Pearson has called for hundreds of millions of dollars to be put into a perpetual fund for indigenous groups.

ABORIGINAL leader Noel Pearson has called for hundreds of millions of dollars to be put into a perpetual fund for indigenous groups.

This fund would create sustainable environment-based businesses on land locked up under Queensland government regulation.

Mr Pearson, director of the Cape York Institute, said the fund would recognise the economic impact that land clearing and the controversial wild rivers laws had on the ability of traditional owners to participate in the emerging carbon economy in their own right. He said a rigorous process was needed to value the stored carbon on Cape York that could no longer be used for carbon saving schemes by landowners as a result of pre-emptive action by the state and environmental groups.

Mr Pearson has been a fierce opponent of Queensland's wild rivers laws, which restrict development along the 10 declared wild river systems on Cape York.

However, his call for funding has received support from the Wilderness Society's wild rivers campaigner Glenn Walker.

"Where our agendas align is that we both want amazing places to be preserved but want people to have a happy future as well," Mr Walker said. "We recognise there have been economic costs to the legislation, and government should compensate by putting in a high level of resources to develop sustainable practices. The best way to do that is to ensure that places are managed properly."

Under Mr Pearson's plan, interest earned on the perpetual fund would be available to all indigenous groups on Cape York to support the development of sustainable enterprise and ecological services.

The Cape York Institute put an estimated value of $565 million on the land controls imposed on indigenous landholders on Cape York. It said "a significant proportion of the emissions 'saved' from avoided deforestation had come from indigenous-owned and controlled lands". Mr Pearson said the big opportunity in the new carbon economy would be in the area of private agreements to provide ecological services to offset carbon emissions elsewhere.

But he said the ability of groups on Cape York to do so was limited once an area had been put under legislative protection.

"We just cannot understand why laws have been put in place to deny us the benefit of the carbon value of the land in an age where a carbon price or credit system is in the offing," Mr Pearson told The Weekend Australian. "We have a lot in common with other indigenous groups in other parts of the world who are starting to profit from preserving forests for the benefit of human kind."

A spokesman for Queensland Resources Minister Stephen Robertson said issues involving carbon trading were the responsibility of the federal government. He confirmed Mr Pearson had raised the issue with the minister but said more detail was needed.

Mr Walker said it was unlikely that protected land could be taken out of the national carbon accounts and returned to landholders to trade.

"We would argue that to compensate, the government should put enormous resources into particularly indigenous communities to develop opportunities in the carbon economy such as better fire management," he said.

Mr Walker said the carbon economy was an exciting opportunity. He said Julia Gillard's inquiry into Cape York opportunities in response to Tony Abbott's bill, which is designed to give indigenous communities a veto over the wild rivers declarations, was a perfect place to start the debate.

Mr Pearson said the Opposition Leader's bill provided an opportunity to put the issue up for discussion.

Climate Change Minister Greg Combet said the government was committed to working with indigenous landowners so that their land management practices could be considered in the development of carbon price mechanisms.

"We expect to continue to work closely with traditional landowners on these and related issues," Mr Combet said. He said specific issues related to the wild rivers legislation were matters for the Queensland government.