16Requirement to undertake savanna fire management

16  Requirement to undertake savanna fire management

 (1) The project proponent must undertake savanna fire management by undertaking planned burning in each project area each calendar year.

 (2) The planned burning must be undertaken each year in such a way that the combination of:

 (a) the pattern of planned and unplanned burning (if any) in all previous calendar years since the project commenced; and

 (b) the planned burning undertaken in that calendar year (if any); and

 (c) the planned burning that is proposed to be undertaken for the remainder of the permanence obligation period for the project;

  in the project area together demonstrate a program of burning that:

 (d) meets the objectives referred to in paragraph 11(1)(a); and

 (e) could reasonably be expected to ensure that the amount of carbon sequestered in savanna in the project area does not decrease significantly over the permanence obligation period for the project.

 (3) Subsection (1) is not contravened by a failure to undertake planned burning in a particular project area in a particular calendar year if the failure resulted from circumstances beyond the project proponent’s reasonable control.

 (4) If a project area is divided into 2 or more subdivided project areas on a particular date, for the purposes of this section, planned burning that was undertaken in any part of the original project area prior to that date may be treated as having been undertaken in any of the subdivided project areas.

Note: In monitoring whether a project continues to meet the requirements of section 16, the Regulator will consider a range of information, including the project management plan and other information included in an offsets report under subsection 36(3) and the information in any SavBAT 3 reports relating to the project.