AWS has conducted a preliminary assessment of a buffalo and pig control project in Arnhem Land to determine if it is both feasible and cost-effective under the Australian Government Carbon Farming Initiative. We have determined it could generate significant revenues for landowners and the Indigenous Rangers conducting the project.Our analysis advocates that Indigenous Protected Area managers proceed with an emission reduction project. Removal of  buffalo could generate an income which would more than cover the costs of the control operation. Benefiting from subsequent carbon sequestration is more complex; monitoring and measurement are expensive and time consuming but the income is substantially larger.

The proposed Australian Government Indigenous Carbon Farming Fund is dedicated to helping Indigenous communities enter the carbon market. Details of this program are not yet available and success in obtaining funds will take time. In the mean time Indigenous landholders have the option of proceeding with commercial investors. Doing so would enable the project to continue quickly but at a cost to the size of eventual returns for carbon units sold.