Turn the raw legal text into a practical explanation grounded in Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative—Plantation Forestry) Methodology Determination 2022.
For subsection 77A(2) of the Act, the division of the overall project must not result in the division of:
(a) a CEA; or
(b) an area that was formerly a CEA for the project.
Schedule 1—Establishing new plantation forests
Part 1—New plantation project activity and additional eligibility requirements
1 The new plantation project activity
The following constitutes the new plantation project activity for this determination:
(a) planting or seeding to establish the land as a new plantation forest after the eligibility date for the land; and
(i) no rotation is longer than 60 years duration; and
2 Eligible land for new plantation project activity
(1) For this determination, land in the project area is eligible land appropriate for the new plantation project activity if, on the eligibility date:
(a) there had been no relevant plantation on the land within the previous 7 years; and
(b) there had been no native forest on the land within the previous 7 years.
(2) In this clause:
relevant plantation means a plantation for the harvest of forest products that satisfies paragraph (a) to (d) of the definition of “plantation forest” in section 5.
3 Additional requirements for defining new plantation CEAs
(1) A new plantation CEA must be defined for the offsets report relating to the reporting period in which the planting or seeding for the first rotation occurs.
Note: See subsection 21(7) for when planting or seeding occurs.
(2) Subclause (1) does not apply in relation to a CEA created by re-stratification of an existing CEA.
Schedule 2—Converting an existing plantation forest from a short rotation to a long rotation
Part 1—Conversion project activity and additional eligibility requirements
1 Definitions for this Schedule
For this Schedule:
baseline rotation period, in relation to an area of land that is eligible land for the conversion project activity, is:
(a) if paragraph 3(c) of this Schedule applies (rotation underway)—the longer of:
(i) the age of the rotation on the eligibility date; and
(ii) the rotation period of the last rotation that was completed before the eligibility date; and
(iii) for an SR species for the land—the default clearfell age shown in the table in Part 1 of Schedule 6 for that species; and
(iv) for any other species—15 years;
(b) if paragraph 3(d) of this Schedule applies (no rotation underway)—the longer of:
(i) the rotation period of the last rotation that was completed before the eligibility date; and
(ii) for an SR species for the land —the default clearfell age shown in the table in Part 1 of Schedule 6 for that species; and
(iii) for any other species—15 years.
inner tree, on an area of land in a rotation of a plantation forest, means a tree that is not at the edge of the area that was planted, seeded or coppiced for that rotation.
long rotation: a rotation in a plantation forest on a particular area of land is a long rotation if:
(a) the plantation forest is thinned or pruned after the starting date for the rotation; and
(b) the rotation period is at least 10 years longer than the baseline rotation period for the area of land.
Note: Subsection 23(4) imposes a maximum rotation period.
LR species (for “long rotation species”), for land in a national plantation inventory region, means a species listed in Part 2 of Schedule 6 for that region.
pruned: an area of land in a rotation of a plantation forest is pruned if:
(a) all branches from the tree stem up to a minimum height of 2 metres are removed from a number of inner trees across the area; and
(b) that number is more than 15% of the number of inner trees that existed in the area after the planting, seeding or coppicing that commenced the rotation.
Note: Branches may be removed from the trees growing around the edge of the area that was planted, seeded or coppiced for the rotation without the area being pruned within this meaning.
Note: This is a restrictive definition for the purposes of eligibility for conversion only. The management action ‘pruning’ includes a wider range of actions —see paragraph 21(1)(f) and subsection 21(3).
qualified independent person: a person who makes a statement for this Schedule is a qualified independent person if, at the time the statement is made, they:
(a) hold qualifications, determined by the Regulator to be necessary to hold, to provide an opinion for paragraph 6(a)(iii) or 6(b)(ii) of this Schedule; and
Note: A person does not have a financial interest in the project merely because they are being paid to review the forest management plan.
short rotation: a rotation in a plantation forest on a particular area of land is a short rotation at a particular date if:
(a) the following apply:
(i) the rotation used an SR species for the land; and
(ii) neither of the following exceeds the maximum clearfell age for the species given in Part 1 of Schedule 6:
(A) for a rotation that is underway at that date—the age of the rotation at that date;
(B) for a rotation that has been completed before that date—length of the rotation; or
(b) the following apply:
(i) the rotation used a UR species for the land;
(ii) neither of the following exceeds the maximum clearfell age for any species given in Part 1 of Schedule 6:
(A) for a rotation that is underway at that date—the age of the rotation at that date;
(B) for a rotation that has been completed before that date—length of the rotation.
SR species (for “short rotation species”), for land in national plantation inventory region, means a species listed in Part 1 of Schedule 6 for that region.
thinned:
(a) an area of land in a rotation of a plantation forest that was started by planting or seeding is thinned if:
(i) a number of trees (whether or not inner trees) have been felled or removed from across the area since the completion of the planting or seeding; and
(ii) that number is more than 15% of the number of trees in the area at the time of that completion; and
(b) an area of land in a rotation of a plantation forest that was started by coppicing is thinned if:
(i) for a number of coppiced trees across the area (whether or not inner trees), either:
(A) all stems were removed at a time less than 4 years after the start of the rotation; or
(B) stems have been removed at a time 4 years or more after the start of the rotation; and
(ii) that number is more than 15% of the original number of coppiced trees in the area.
Note: This is a restrictive definition for the purposes of eligibility for conversion only. The management action ‘thinning’ has the meaning given in the FullCAM guidelines—see subsection 21(3).
UR species (for “undetermined rotation species”), for land in national plantation inventory region, means a species not listed in either Part 1 or Part 2 of Schedule 6 for that region.
2 The conversion project activity
The following constitutes the conversion project activity for this determination:
(a) doing one of the following:
(i) where no rotation was in progress on the eligibility date—making the first rotation after the eligibility date a long rotation;
(ii) where a short rotation was underway on the eligibility date:
(A) completing that rotation, and making the following rotation a long rotation; or
(B) making that rotation instead into a long rotation; and
(i) every subsequent rotation is a long rotation using a LR or UR species; and
(d) if, for subparagraph (c)(i), a UR species is used, the requirements in clause 6 are met.
3 Eligible land for conversion project activity
For this determination, an area of land in the project area is eligible land appropriate for the conversion project activity if, on the eligibility date:
(a) the land was not part of the project area of an eligible offsets project; and
(b) either:
(i) the land was within a national plantation inventory region; or
(ii) no part of the land was further than 100km from the nearest national plantation inventory region; and
(c) if a rotation of a plantation forest was underway on the land:
(i) the rotation was a short rotation; and
(ii) the plantation forest had not been thinned or pruned during the rotation, other than where subclause 5(1) or (2) applies; and
(iii) if the species was a UR species for the land, the requirements in clause 6 are met; and
(d) if no rotation of a plantation forest was underway on the land:
(i) in the 7 years prior to the eligibility date, a rotation of a plantation forest had been completed on the land; and
(ii) that rotation was a short rotation; and
(e) during the 7 years prior to the eligibility date, the land had not been used other than:
(i) as a plantation forest with a short rotation; or
(ii) as land with no plantation forest; and
(f) the following applied:
(i) the land had not, within the previous seven years, been cleared of native forest; and
(ii) native forest would not need to be cleared for a project to be conducted.
4 Evidence required in application
For paragraph 10(3)(c) of this determination, the evidence to be provided in the application must include management records of any rotation underway on the eligibility date and any previous rotation relied on under paragraph 3(d) of this Schedule or clause 6.
5 Requirements for thinning or pruning
(1) For subparagraph 3(c)(ii) of this Schedule, this subclause applies if, while the thinning or pruning was being undertaken, the land was within a region:
(a) declared to be a drought affected region by a state or territory body; or
(b) recorded on the Bureau of Meteorology’s 24-month recent and historical rainfall map as having a rainfall percentile ranking as:
Note: As of December 2021, the Bureau of Meteorology’s website included the following definitions: Serious rainfall deficiency: rainfall lies above the lowest five per cent of recorded rainfall but below the lowest ten per cent (decile range 1) for the period 1900-present, Severe rainfall deficiency: rainfall is among the lowest five per cent for the period 1900-present.
(2) For subparagraph 3(c)(ii) of this Schedule, this subclause applies if the thinning or pruning conducted was necessary for ecological purposes or drought resilience purposes.
6 Requirements for UR species
(1) This clause sets the requirements for paragraph 2(d) and subparagraph 3(c)(iii) of this Schedule.
(2) For subparagraph 3(c)(iii), if a rotation of a UR species has been completed or is underway, one of the following requirements must be met:
(a) spatially explicit data demonstrates that, within the previous 10 years, at least one rotation of a plantation forest has been completed on the land using the same species and that rotation was a short rotation; or
(b) spatially explicit data demonstrates that:
(i) the same species has been harvested from a plantation forest within 100km of the land within the previous 10 years; and
(ii) the rotation for that plantation forest was a short rotation; or
(c) a qualified independent person certifies in a statement that the person is of the opinion that growing a long rotation of that species is not commercially viable in the baseline scenario.
(3) For paragraph 2(d), if the project proponent proposes to utilise a UR species in a following rotation, one of the following requirements must be met:
(a) spatially explicit data demonstrates that:
(i) the same species has been harvested from a plantation forest within 100km of the land within the previous 10 years; and
(ii) the rotation for that plantation forest was a long rotation; or
(b) a qualified independent person certifies in a statement that the person is of the opinion that growing a long rotation of that species is not commercially viable in the baseline scenario.
(4) If paragraph (2)(b) or (c) or (3)(a) or (b) applies—the chief executive officer or chief financial officer (however described) of the project proponent must also provide a signed declaration confirming their intended management regime for the default baseline management regime and current management regiment, as applicable, which is using a UR species.
7 Additional requirements for defining conversion CEAs
No rotation underway on eligibility date
(1) If no rotation was under way on the eligibility date, a conversion CEA must be defined for the offsets report relating to the first reporting period during which planting, seeding or coppicing for a new rotation occurs, but not for an earlier offsets report.
(2) The planting, seeding or coppicing must use:
(a) an LR species for the land; or
(b) a UR species for the land.
Rotation underway on eligibility date
(3) If a rotation was under way on the eligibility date, a conversion CEA must be defined for the offsets report relating to the first reporting period.