The University of New South Wales Institute of Environmental Studies Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
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THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES INSTITUTE OF ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES FACULTY OF ARTS AND SOCIAL SCIENCES HARNESSING BIOENERGY AS A DRIVER OF REVEGETATION: AN ANALYSIS OF POLICY OPTIONS FOR THE NEW SOUTH WALES CENTRAL WEST, AUSTRALIA A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Supervised by Associate Professor John Merson (UNSW) and Associate Professor Mark Diesendorf (UNSW) Co-supervised by Mr Peter Ampt (The University of Sydney) Alex Baumber July 2012 ORIGINALITY STATEMENT ‘I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and to the best of my knowledge it contains no materials previously published or written by another person, or substantial proportions of material which have been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma at UNSW or any other educational institution, except where due acknowledgement is made in the thesis. Any contribution made to the research by others, with whom I have worked at UNSW or elsewhere, is explicitly acknowledged in the thesis. I also declare that the intellectual content of this thesis is the product of my own work, except to the extent that assistance from others in the project's design and conception or in style, presentation and linguistic expression is acknowledged.’ Signed …………………………………………….............. Date …………………………………………….............. COPYRIGHT STATEMENT ‘I hereby grant the University of New South Wales or its agents the right to archive and to make available my thesis or dissertation in whole or part in the University libraries in all forms of media, now or here after known, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. I retain all proprietary rights, such as patent rights. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis or dissertation. I also authorise University Microfilms to use the 350 word abstract of my thesis in Dissertation Abstract International (this is applicable to doctoral theses only). I have either used no substantial portions of copyright material in my thesis or I have obtained permission to use copyright material; where permission has not been granted I have applied/will apply for a partial restriction of the digital copy of my thesis or dissertation.' Signed ……………………………………………........................... Date ……………………………………………........................... AUTHENTICITY STATEMENT ‘I certify that the Library deposit digital copy is a direct equivalent of the final officially approved version of my thesis. No emendation of content has occurred and if there are any minor variations in formatting, they are the result of the conversion to digital format.’ Signed ……………………………………………........................... Date ……………………………………………........................... Abstract The revegetation of degraded and vulnerable land is a key objective of natural resource management policy in Australia. The production of woody energy crops could help to facilitate such revegetation, with examples including the cropping of mallee eucalypts in Western Australia and poplar and willow in Europe. This thesis seeks to add to the existing knowledge around woody energy crops for revegetation by exploring the applicability of these ideas to the Central West region of New South Wales (NSW), Australia. This includes analysis of the potential social, economic and environmental impacts of energy cropping in this region and the development of policy measures to guide the use of woody energy crops for revegetation. The results of two case studies in the NSW Central West are presented, one in the Central Tablelands and another farther west in the wheat and sheep belt around the town of Condobolin. These two regions have much in common, but also possess notable differences in land use, climate, topography, demographic trends and natural resource management priorities. The case study results suggest that different strategies are likely to be required for bioenergy-based agroforestry in each region. Woody energy crops appear closer to being competitive with typical agriculture in the Central Tablelands, where large-scale bioenergy options such as electricity generation or liquid fuel production may be viable due to the presence of existing timber industry residues. At Condobolin, energy cropping appears less competitive at present, but small-scale options involving wood pellets, briquettes or electricity may be viable for small groups of landholders with high levels of interest in mallee cropping. Recommendations are also presented on policy options that could be used to guide the development of bioenergy-based agroforestry in a sustainable manner. Policy development of this nature requires consideration of the differing issues, benchmarks and policy measures employed across the revegetation, plantation and bioenergy sectors. Key policy recommendations include measures to support landholders in the establishment of energy plantations, the tailoring of renewable energy incentive programs to promote bioenergy that contributes to revegetation goals and the use of land use planning regulations to mitigate negative land use impacts. i Acknowledgements I would like to thank my three supervisors, John Merson, Mark Diesendorf and Peter Ampt. Each of you has brought something different to the development of this thesis. John, your ability to get me to pull back and focus on the big picture has helped me to understand what a thesis needs to do. Mark, your intimate knowledge of renewable energy and attention to detail has helped to make this a document I can be proud of. Peter, I could never have hoped to tackle a project like this without your support and mentoring over many years and your insights into rural land use and landholder issues. I am also grateful for all the assistance I have received from the Graduate Research School, the Institute of Environmental Studies and the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at UNSW, including a generous UNSW Research Excellence scholarship, support with fieldwork and funding for overseas conference travel. Thank you to everyone who assisted me with the case study research around Condobolin and the Central Tablelands. I couldn’t possibly have obtained the level of access to people and places that I did without your help. In particular, I would like to thank Sandy Booth for his invaluable advice and for introducing me to the issues and personalities involved with mallee cropping around Condobolin. I would also like to thank Peter Milthorpe for his insights into mallee cropping, Dave McDonald for connecting me with a wide range of landholders, Andrew Cumming for providing access to a working mallee plantation at Mt Mulga, Dean Patton for advice on mallee economics, James Martin for assisting with interviews and Ted Hayman for his advice and data on briquetting. For the Central Tablelands case study, I would like to thank DAFF and RIRDC for providing the funds to make it happen, Crelis Rammelt for coordinating the broader project, Sarah Terkes for providing support at critical times, Sebastian Pfautsch for his expert advice on plantation monitoring and Roger Arrow, Mitchell Clapham and Ned Coombes for providing access to their properties. Lastly, but most fundamentally, I would like to thank my family and friends for all the support I have received throughout this process. In particular, I wish to thank my beloved partner Claire for all her advice and for all she’s had to put up with, and my son Simon for making everything joyful, even in the darkest moments of thesis editing. ii Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................... i Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................ ii Table of Contents .................................................................................................................. iii List of Figures ..................................................................................................................... viii List of Tables ...................................................................................................................... xiii List of Acronyms and Abbreviations .................................................................................. xvi Chapter 1: Introduction .......................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Key terms and thesis scope ......................................................................................... 3 1.2 Sustainability and sustainable development ................................................................ 9 1.3 Thesis structure .......................................................................................................... 12 Chapter 2: Literature Review……… ................................................................................... 14 2.1 Revegetation and ecological restoration .................................................................... 15 2.1.1 Sustainability issues and revegetation objectives ............................................ 15 2.1.2 Revegetation policy instruments ..................................................................... 20 2.2 Plantations and agroforestry ...................................................................................... 23 2.2.1 Notions of sustainability in the plantation sector ............................................ 24 2.2.2