Cloudland Connectivity and Carbon (Revoked)

Cloudland Connectivity and Carbon (Revoked) is an environmental planting project located in the Atherton Tablelands region of Queensland, approximately 20km south of Atherton and 15km southwest of Malanda. Registered in June 2013 by proponents David Alan Hudson and Robyn Land, the project covers a remarkably small area of just 0.72 hectares. The Atherton Tablelands area is renowned for its highly productive agricultural land, with general land use dominated by dairy farming, beef cattle grazing, forestry, and diverse horticulture including avocados, bananas, and macadamias.

As an environmental planting project, it operated under the 2012 CFI Reforestation Modelling Tool methodology. Environmental planting projects typically involve establishing permanent plantings of native tree species at a density sufficient to achieve forest cover (often at least 200 stems per hectare). According to standard requirements for this method, the plantings must be established on land that has been cleared of forest for at least five years prior to the project's commencement, and the selected tree species must be native to the local area to support ecological restoration.

The environment of the Atherton Tablelands is exceptionally well-suited for robust plant growth. Situated at an elevated altitude, the region falls within a high-rainfall classification, bordering the Wet Tropics, which provides consistent precipitation without the extreme heat of the coastal lowlands. The soils in this region are famously fertile, dominated by deep, rich red volcanic basalts, known as krasnozems, alongside some granitic and metamorphic soil profiles.

An interesting note regarding this project is its regulatory history and its ultimate termination. On January 21, 2020, the Clean Energy Regulator issued a compliance notice under section 32 of the CFI Act requiring David Alan Hudson to relinquish 105 Kyoto Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs). Shortly thereafter, on February 10, 2020, the project was officially revoked under section 29 of the CFI Rule. Given its tiny footprint of less than one hectare, the total historical issuance of just 105 ACCUs, and its subsequent revocation, it stands as a unique, micro-scale example of carbon farming compliance action within the ACCU scheme.