Australian Coastal Wetland Restoration Sites for Blue Carbon and Co-benefits

The NESP MaC 1.15 dataset from The University of Queensland contains spatial analysis workflows, derived data, and R code for identifying blue carbon restoration opportunities. It focuses on three case study regions in Australia: Fitzroy Basin (QLD), Peel-Harvey and northern South West Catchments (WA), and Ord River (WA). The work package supports a regional approach for selecting restoration sites, as detailed in Hagger et al. (2024 Journal of Environmental Management).

Use Cases

• Identify potential coastal wetland restoration sites based on biophysical suitability criteria described in the spatial analysis workflow.
• Estimate carbon abatement for identified sites using the Australian Government Tidal restoration method referenced in the description.
• Perform cost-benefit analysis for restoration projects under a carbon market, using variables like carbon price and discount rate mentioned.
• Evaluate co-benefits for biodiversity, fisheries, water quality, and coastal protection as outlined in the multi-stage approach.
• Prioritize restoration sites by integrating economic feasibility, restoration feasibility, and provision of co-benefits as described.

Strengths

• Analysis is based on publicly-available spatial datasets from Geoscience Australia, Queensland Government (QSpatial), Western Australian Government (Landgate), and the National Native Title Tribunal.
• The methodology is documented in a peer-reviewed publication (Hagger et al. 2024 Journal of Environmental Management) and includes annotated R scripts.
• The multi-stage approach integrates spatial analysis with economic and statistical analysis in R, covering biophysical suitability, carbon abatement, economic feasibility, and multiple co-benefits.

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network, The University of Queensland (NESP MaC 1.15)

Collection Method

Spatial analysis workflows in ArcMap 10.8 or QGIS, with subsequent data analysis in R 4.0.2.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-29 05:18:54.097696; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Three case study regions in Australia: Fitzroy Basin (QLD), Peel-Harvey and northern South West Catchments (WA), Ord River (WA).