David Summers

Carbon payments and low-cost conservation.

A price on carbon is expected to generate demand for carbon offset schemes. This demand could drive investment in tree-based monocultures that provide higher carbon yields than diverse plantings of native tree and shrub species, which sequester less carbon but provide greater variation in vegetation structure and composition. Economic instruments such as species conservation banking, the creation and trading of credits that represent biological-diversity values on private land, could close the financial gap between monocultures and more diverse plantings by providing payments to individuals who plant diverse species in locations that contribute to conservation and restoration goals. We studied a highly modified agricultural system in southern Australia that is typical of many temperate agriculture zones globally (i.e., has a high proportion of endangered species, high levels of habitat fragmentation, and presence of non-native species). We quantified the economic returns from agriculture and from carbon plantings (monoculture and mixed tree and shrubs) under six carbon-price scenarios. We also identified high-priority locations for restoration of cleared landscapes with mixed tree and shrub carbon plantings. Depending on the price of carbon, direct annual payments to landowners of AU

Space matters: the importance of amenity in planning metropolitan growth

7/ha/year to

Simple models for managing complex social-ecological systems

125/ha/year (US

Regional engagement and spatial modelling for natural resource management planning

6-120/ha/year) may be sufficient to augment economic returns from a carbon market and encourage tree plantings that contribute more to the restoration of natural systems and endangered species habitats than monocultures. Thus, areas of high priority for conservation and restoration may be restored relatively cheaply in the presence of a carbon market. Overall, however, less carbon is sequestered by mixed native tree and shrub plantings.

An environmental assessment and risk map of Ascaris lumbricoides and Necator americanus distributions in Manufahi District, Timor-Leste

Most Australian capital cities require many 100,000s of additional dwellings to accommodate demographic change and population pressures in the next two or three decades. Urban growth will come in the form of infill, consolidation and urban expansion. Plans to redevelop environmental amenities such as parks and open green spaces are regularly being put forward to local councils and State governments. Maintaining parks and reserves represents one of the largest costs to local councils. To aid in the evaluation of some of the different propositions, we report the results of a spatial hedonic pricing model with fixed effects for Adelaide, South Australia. The results indicate that the private benefits of a close proximity to golf courses, green space sporting facilities, or the coast, are in the order

Unmixing of soil types and estimation of soil exposure with simulated hyperspectral imagery

0.54,

Visible near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy as a predictive indicator of soil properties

1.58, and

Species vulnerability to climate change: impacts on spatial conservation priorities and species representation

4.99 per metre closer (when evaluated at the median respectively). The historic Adelaide Parklands add

Identifying priority areas for reducing species vulnerability to climate change

1.55 to a property’s value for each additional metre closer. We demonstrate how the estimated model could be used to calculate how local private benefits capitalized in property values change with changes in the configuration of a park.

Reconfiguring an irrigation landscape to improve provision of ecosystem services

Integrated modelling and assessment can facilitate exploration of complex social-ecological interactions and quantify trade-offs in regional policy, planning, and management options. However, there have been challenges in its acceptance and adoption for supporting decisions. Here we overcome this implementation gap through the development of an interactive online tool called the Landscape Futures Analysis Tool (LFAT) (http://www.lfat.org.au/). Identifying four high priority regional management issues; agricultural production, carbon sequestration, biodiversity conservation and weed management, we developed a series of simple models to explore them through a range of environmental and economic scenarios including climate change, carbon price, agricultural commodity price, and production costs. These models were implemented within the LFAT to allow users to select, query and explore combinations of key variables and examine their impact on each of the management issues through a range of interactive maps and summary statistics. We developed simple models to explore 4 key regional land management issues.Models were implemented in the interactive, online Landscape Futures Analysis Tool.Users can explore key uncertainties in productivity, prices, costs and global change.LFAT provides interactive maps and summary statistics to inform planning.LFAT helps bridge the implementation gap in land management and planning