The Victoria River Carbon Project

The Victoria River Carbon Project is a Human-Induced Regeneration project located at Limbunya Station, a remote cattle property approximately 650km southwest of Katherine in the Northern Territory and 100km from the Western Australian border. Registered in April 2023, the project spans an immense 523,951.69 hectares.

Human-Induced Regeneration (HIR) projects aim to establish permanent even-aged native forests by altering land management practices to allow assisted regeneration from in-situ seed sources, rootstock, or lignotubers. Standard requirements include ensuring the regenerating vegetation can reach native forest cover metrics, typically defined as at least 20% canopy cover and a height of at least 2 meters. The specific activities for this project involve ceasing the mechanical or chemical destruction of regrowth, alongside managing the timing and extent of grazing and humanely managing feral animals to remove suppressors to tree growth.

The Victoria River District's general land use is characterized by remote, large-scale pastoralism and cattle breeding, running primarily Brahman cattle. The region experiences a distinct monsoonal wet-dry savanna climate with an average annual rainfall of around 760mm. Soils across the project area are typical of the district, largely consisting of cracking clays, calcareous red earths, and sandy red earths that are often phosphorus-deficient.

Interestingly, the proponent's property, Limbunya Station, was listed for sale in 2024, with its marketing strongly emphasizing the potential of this very carbon project. The Victoria River Carbon Project is forecasted to generate approximately 5.8 million Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) over a 25-year period, representing a highly lucrative supplementary income stream alongside traditional cattle operations. Prior to this successful HIR registration, earlier attempts were made in the region to establish Savanna Fire Management projects, highlighting a long-standing interest in carbon abatement in the district.