Belarabon Koonaburra Regeneration Project (Revoked)

The Belarabon Koonaburra Regeneration Project (Revoked) was a Human-Induced Regeneration (HIR) project located in the remote rangelands of western New South Wales. The project area spanned approximately 67,295 hectares across the Belarabon and Koonaburra pastoral stations, situated roughly 140km southwest of Cobar and 100km northeast of Ivanhoe. This region is part of the Cobar Shire and is characterized by extensive grazing properties utilized primarily for sheep, cattle, and goat production.

Registered in August 2015, the project operated under the Human-Induced Regeneration of a Permanent Even-Aged Native Forest methodology. This method requires proponents to allow native forests to regenerate on land where vegetation growth had been suppressed for at least 10 years, typically by livestock grazing or mechanical clearing. The specific activities for this project involved the cessation of mechanical or chemical destruction of regrowth and the strategic management of grazing timing and extent to facilitate forest recovery.

The local environment is semi-arid, featuring red sandy loams and dune fields typical of the Cobar Peneplain. The vegetation is dominated by Mulga (Acacia aneura), Bimble Box, and White Cypress Pine, often interspersed with "melon holes" (water depressions) that support diverse birdlife.

The project was voluntarily revoked in March 2018 under Section 30 of the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Rule 2015. Interesting to note is that while the carbon project was revoked, the conservation value of the land remained significant; Koonaburra Station was subsequently acquired by the NSW Government in 2021 to expand the National Park estate. This acquisition highlighted the property's role in supporting threatened species such as the Malleefowl and Major Mitchell’s cockatoo, validating the ecological potential that the original carbon project sought to enhance.