Recently, many carbon and ecosystem service markets have been initiated in grazing lands and rangelands worldwide. This study, based on in depth interviews with 34 stakeholders, has provided insights into the opportunities and constraints related to environmental service market policy. We recommend an approach that incorporates the concepts of multi-stakeholder participation and roundtables, which have been advocated as a more effective way to manage wicked policy problems that span financial, regulatory, agricultural, and other systems.

As Australia’s rangelands host increasing investment in land restoration for carbon abatement, opportunities and tensions are emerging where carbon abatement projects do and do not align with regional objectives. We outline an approach to understand regional contexts to support the negotiation of land restoration investments that provide co-benefits that align with community aspirations and transition pathways. We show that regional conditions shape the extent to which communities can take on and access valuable co-benefits associated with land restoration for carbon abatement.

Since 2012, the Australian Government has provided carbon credits to landholders for burning tropical savannas in the early dry season when most fires have lower intensity and lower greenhouse-gas emissions than do late dry-season wildfires. Air pollution across the northern half of the Northern Territory has worsened following implementation of these projects, exacerbated by intense fires from drier fuels associated with climate change. To avoid maladaptation, savanna burning carbon abatement must be carefully designed and monitored.