Australia's Outback an emissions 'bank'

CANBERRA, Australia, July 14 (UPI) -- Australia's Outback soaks up 9.7 billion tons of carbon emissions and can serve as a significant carbon "bank," a new study indicates.

The area could absorb up to an additional 1.3 billion tons of carbon by 2050 through better management, states the study, "Outback Carbon -- An Assessment of Carbon Storage, Sequestration and Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Remote Australia," commissioned by The Nature Conservancy and the Pew Environment Group.

That's the equivalent of taking 7.5 million cars off the road every year for the next four decades, the researchers say.

"This new and very important report shows that by taking better care of Australia's Outback, its native plants, woodlands and forests, we have a logical and inexpensive way to cut emissions right in our own backyard," said Michael Looker of The Nature Conservancy in Australia in a release.

Australia has the highest per capita of carbon emissions among developed nations.

The Outback -- comprised of forests, woodlands and grasslands -- covers an area of approximately 2.5 million square miles, around 80 percent of Australia's total land mass.

"Due to its enormous size, the Outback environment is able to store huge amounts of carbon, so it serves as a massive pollution bank for Australia and the planet," said Barry Traill, director of the Wild Australia Program, a joint project of The Nature Conservancy and Pew.

"However, if the wide variety of its plants and trees continue to be cleared or degraded through poor management, stored carbon will be released into the atmosphere, adding to climate pollution," he said.

The report suggests adopting measures such as reducing land clearance, controlling feral animal populations and better fire management to take advantage of the carbon "bank" potential of the Outback.

In doing so, the Outback's carbon storage levels would be significantly increased and could cut the country's greenhouse emissions by 5 percent by 2030, it says.

In most cases the changes would cost less than the estimated carbon price under the government's shelved emissions trading scheme, the report said.

The report said these changes could also increase employment. Australia's indigenous communities, for example, could implement fire-management policies such as controlled burning to prevent wildfires.

"We still need to work hard on reducing industrial emissions, we still need a carbon price, but the Outback must be a central part of any overall approach to climate change pollution," said Patrick O'Leary of the Pew Environment Group, Australian Broadcasting Corporation reports.