17Carbon estimation areas (CEAs), exclusion areas and emissions accounting areas

17 Carbon estimation areas (CEAs), exclusion areas and emissions accounting areas

 (1) The project proponent must map land within the project area for the project into one or more carbon estimation areas (CEAs) such that:

 (a) all the land included in the CEA:

 (i) is eligible land; and

 (ii) is subject to the carrying out or maintenance of at least one eligible management activity until the end of the permanence obligation period for the project; and

 (iii) is within a single State or Territory; and

 (b) non-contiguous parts of the project area are mapped as separate CEAs; and

 (c) the boundaries of the CEA used in the baseline sampling round must be the same as the boundaries used in each subsequent sampling round; and

 (d) the mapping is completed before the baseline sampling round for each CEA.

 (2) The project proponent may map other land within the project area for the project into one or more exclusion areas such that:

 (a) either:

 (i) no land management or agricultural activities are to be conducted in the area; or

 (ii) the land is forest land where no emissions occur that are relevant to the calculations in Schedule 2; and

 (b) none of the land is included in a CEA.

Note: Exclusion areas would generally be forests, dwellings, roads, dams or other infrastructure.

 (3) Any part of the project area which is neither a CEA nor an exclusion area is an emissions accounting area.

Note: The carbon stock change of an emissions accounting area is not included in the net abatement amount, but emissions from these areas are included in the net abatement amount calculations. Emissions accounting areas are likely to include agricultural land which is not suitable or conducive to sampling (such as rocky outcrops) and forest land where land management activities are applied.

 (4) Subsections (5) and (6) apply to a CEA that:

 (a) has been mapped in accordance with this section; and

 (b) includes land that is not eligible, or has ceased to be eligible, because it does not satisfy paragraph 9(1)(b) (forest land) or 9(1)(c) (dwelling or structures); and

 (c) has not been removed from the project area of the project.

 (5) Despite subparagraph (1)(a)(i), the CEA must remain unchanged if:

 (a) less than the smaller of 1% or 50 hectares of the area of the CEA is forest land or is covered by dwellings or other structures; or

 (b) the most recent values for View image in the official source from equation 27 of Schedule 1 or from equation 40 of Schedule 1 for the CEA are negative; or