A Charles Darwin University (CDU) research proposal to assist Northern Territory landholders has received a grant as part of the Australian Research Council’s Linkage Projects Scheme.
The grant of $80,007 over three years was announced by Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator Kim Carr.
CDU Institute of Advanced Studies Professor Romy Greiner is the chief investigator of the project and said the three-year PhD project aimed to estimate the potential supply of environmental services by landholders, with a focus on pastoralists.
“We will look at the supply side of environmental services by exploring the ability and willingness of landholders in the Northern Territory to provide services including carbon sequestration, biodiversity conservation and water regeneration,” she said.
“Wilderness, natural habitats, biodiversity and other aspects of natural capital and their associated ecosystem services are in decline. Their increasing scarcity is driving a surge of interest in environmental services provided by land managers.”
Professor Greiner said the project could potentially provide opportunities for landholders to generate income from environmental services provision, and lessen dependency on livestock, crop and fibre production.
“The project will combine desktop, empirical, statistical analytical and modelling approaches to assess the economic viability of the supply of environmental services,” she said.
The Australian Government’s Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Projects scheme funds collaborative projects between university researchers and partner organisations in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors.
This is a collaborative project between ARC, Northern Territory Government, Northern Territory Cattlemen’s Association and CDU.