Researchers on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast are helping the federal government put a price on nature. They're letting tidal water into disused cane farms to inform a new market focussed on rebuilding ecosystems.
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00:00Old cane farms are being returned to nature.
00:05Tidal gates, designed to keep water out, are being removed.
00:08This place was plenty full of food, bush medicine, everything.
00:14And this was a gathering place.
00:17This was always known as the wetland.
00:20Researchers say the native wildlife is coming back
00:23and increased diversity will drive up the land's value.
00:26We're working in with nature.
00:27She knows what she wants to be.
00:29If you have a look up at the drains that we have opened up,
00:32you can already see those mangroves were starting to form.
00:34Early next year, the federal government will launch the nature repair market,
00:37similar to the carbon credit scheme.
00:39Landholders will be able to sell certificates for projects deemed worthy.
00:43This is a market that invests in projects that go from 25 to 100 years.
00:48We know that they are complex projects, they are long-term,
00:53and we want long-term investment.
00:56While there is a major difference between the carbon and nature repair markets,
00:59where carbon credits can be used as offsets, biodiversity certificates cannot.
01:04And that has some economists worried the market just isn't there.
01:07When you start setting up all this market architecture and all this sort of stuff,
01:10it's just a massive compliance and administrative burden.
01:15The environment minister says it's a protection against greenwashing.
01:19Well, the nature repair market can really give investors the confidence
01:24that when they put money into nature repair, that's what they'll get.
01:29The Blue Heart project is a collaboration led by the local council.
01:32Along with nature repair, the government has invested $2 million tracking carbon
01:36captured by mangroves and salt marsh, known as blue carbon.
01:39And mangroves do a lot of great things.
01:42They're very good at sucking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and locking it away.
01:47The nature repair market will give blue carbon projects like this
01:52the opportunity to get ACUs, Australian Carbon Credit Units,
01:56and also to trade on the nature repair market.
01:59Time will tell if these markets reverse the damage.