Biodiverse Carbon Conservation Cotter Catchment (Revoked)

Biodiverse Carbon Conservation Cotter Catchment (Revoked) was an environmental planting project located in the Lower Cotter Catchment, approximately 25 kilometers southwest of Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory. Registered in July 2015, the project encompassed a significant area of 6,447 hectares within a critical water catchment region. The area is defined by its role as the primary water source for Canberra and is characterized by a mix of recovering native vegetation and former plantation forestry land use, particularly following the devastating 2003 bushfires which necessitated extensive restoration efforts.

The project operated under the Carbon Farming (Quantifying Carbon Sequestration by Permanent Environmental Plantings of Native Tree Species using the CFI Reforestation Modelling Tool) Methodology Determination 2012. This methodology involves establishing permanent plantings of native tree species on land that has been cleared of forest for at least five years, typically at a density sufficient to reach forest cover (often greater than 200 stems per hectare). The aim is to sequester carbon in the biomass of the growing trees while providing co-benefits such as soil erosion control and biodiversity habitat.

Environmental conditions in the Cotter Catchment are distinct from the surrounding plains, featuring higher rainfall due to the elevation of the Brindabella Ranges and soils that are often skeletal on ridges but clay-rich and erodible in the valleys. The project was revoked in February 2018 under section 30 of the CFI Rule, which indicates a voluntary revocation by the proponent, Australian Integrated Carbon Financial Services Pty Ltd. This revocation occurred during a period where management of such large-scale catchment restoration projects often shifted between private aggregators and state utility stakeholders.