Patent AU-2011203027-A1 (AU)
Title: Methods and systems for obtaining and estimating emission reduction benefits from management of savanna and agricultural fires
Inventor: MOORE TIMOTHY NICHOLAS
IPC: G06Q90/00
Filed: 2011-06-22
Abstract: Burning of savannas in Northern Australia releases significant amounts of greenhouse gases (GHG). Recent work has indicated that a change in the burning pattern from late dry season to early dry season 5 can reduce the GHG emissions. Methods and systems for obtaining and estimating emission reduction benefits from management of savanna and agricultural fires are described. In the case that there multiple regions in a geographic region, each with a different owner, the method includes entering into agreements with the owners to perform fire management actions such as back burning or active fire fighting, over the multiple regions and then performing the actions and estimating the GHG emission D reductions that result. The carbon credits or value from the sale of such credits is then distributed to the different owners and management entity. This collective approach has benefits by more efficient fire managing a wide area over time generating greater returns compared with individual actions. A method is also described for determining the optimum set of fire management actions to perform for a geographic area. The method includes estimating a first set of management actions, modelling their 5 effect and resultant GHG emission reduction, and then repeating these steps a number of times to find an optimum or best set of actions to perform. Such a tool can be provided to fire managers to select what specific fire management actions to perform in a given season or season. entering into one or more agreements with the 110 respective owners of a plurality of the plurality of sub regions in the first geographic region to perform fire management actions on the geographic region during a management time period in return for entitlement to at least a portion of any valuable carbon offset credits or emission permits or value derived from the creation and sale of any valuable carbon offset credits or emission permits obtained based upon performance of the fire management actions 120 performing a set of fire management actions in at least one of the plurality of sub-regions during a first time period, wherein the first time period is at least a portion of the management time period 130 obtaining an estimate of the business-as-usual Green House Gas (GHG) emissions for the geographic region for the first time period estimating the reduction in GHG emissions that may be 140 attributed to the set of fire management actions implemented during the first time period compared to the business-as-usual estimate obtaining at least one valuable carbon offset credit or 150 emission permit from an issuing authority for provision into a compliance or voluntary market for trading, wherein the at least one valuable carbon offset credit or emission permit is based upon the estimated reduction in GHG emissions associated with the set of fire management actions performed in at least one of the plurality of sub-regions during the first time period and the at least one valuable carbon offset credit or emission permit, or economic value based upon the sale of the at least one valuable carbon offset credit or emission permit is distributed to one or more entitled parties based upon the one or more agreements Figure 1