Before you use Natural Capital Credit
Identify the potential project
Project approval by the scheme administrator
Project verifier approval by the scheme administrator
Determining Reef Credits using Natural Capital Credit
The determination of Reef Credits using Natural Capital Credit is driven by the modelling approach developed by the Australian and Queensland Government’s Paddock to Reef Integrated Monitoring, Modelling and Reporting Program. The underlying modelling approaches are different for each industry (see below), but the workflow in Natural Capital Credit is the same.
The basic approach for determining the potential Reef Credits is to subtract the modelled sediment and nutrient load for the reporting period (last year) from the average sediment and nutrient load for the baseline period (7 years prior to project commencement).
What you do
What Natural Capital Credit does
1. Create a new project
To capture all the details about this project for the lifetime of the project
2. Draw the enterprise (farm) on a map
Draw the entire farming enterprise – including Reef Credit project areas and other areas
3. Complete baseline agricultural practice surveys
Complete the survey of agricultural practices (for all blocks in the enterprise) for the 7 baseline years
Calculate the baseline nutrient load
Baseline load is the average load across the 7 baseline years
4. Agricultural practice survey for reporting year
Complete agricultural practice surveys for the project area and other areas of the farming enterprise and compile supporting documentation for the reporting year
Calculate the nutrient load for the reporting year
Based on the practice surveys, calculate the nutrient load for the reporting year from the project areas and other areas of the farming enterprise
Check for potential ‘leakage’
Ensure their is no increase in pollution load from non-project areas for reporting year compared to baseline average
5. Submit project for verification
Submit the reporting year survey and supporting information for external verification
Pre-approved verifier reviews project
Pre-approved verifier checks the reporting year details and communicates with you during the review process via the ‘chat’ functionality
6. Project verified
Project is verified for this reporting year
7. Submit Verified Credits to Scheme administrator
Send the project reporting year summary to the Reef Credit Scheme administrator for the generation of Reef Credits according to the verified water quality improvement
Invoice sent
On verification of creditable water quality savings an invoice will be sent to the project creator
Modelling approaches used by Natural Capital Credit via the P2R Projector API service
Sugarcane, banana and grain (cropping) industries
The sugarcane, banana and grain industries are modelled using paddock soil water balance models. These are designed specifically to simulate the effects of management practices such as crop rotations, intensity of tillage or traffic, and the application method, rate and timing of herbicides and fertilisers.
The Agricultural Production Systems sIMulator (APSIM) model is used for the sugarcane industry and the HowLeaky model is used for the banana and grain industry simulations.
The paddock soil water balance model simulations used in P2R Projector are summaries of those generated by the Paddock to Reef – Paddock Modelling Team to support the Reef Water Quality Report Card reporting process. Read more about the Paddock to Reef Integrated Monitoring, Modelling and Reporting Program.
A 48-year, daily timestep modelling simulation is conducted for each soil type in each climate zone, for each scenario of management practice. For the sugarcane industry this equates to around 6 million daily modelling simulations.
To prepare the data for use in the P2R Projector, the modelling simulation results are averaged to provide a long term annual average pollutant loss (kg/ha/yr) summarised by soil type, prevailing climate (wet, medium, dry) and management practice at the sub-catchment scale.
Grazing industry
Fine sediment loads are estimated for the grazing industry through pasture management practices based on stock management activities which in turn impact on the end of dry season ground cover. Note that P2R Projector stream bank management and gully management activities are not currently supported in the Natural Capital Credit application.
Pasture management
Estimates of reductions in fine sediment resulting from improved pasture management are based on a revised universal soil loss equation (RUSLE) approach. This uses the same functionality (PEPER) as used to determine erosion rates in the VegMachine® application. End-of-dry season cover is derived from satellite imagery. The PEPER erosion rate is determined each year for 10 years at the end of the dry season (2005-2014). These rates are averaged to estimate the long-term erosion rate under current practice. Pasture management practice change survey results are then used to create a modified cover factor. The 10 end-of-dry season erosion rate calculations are rerun using the modified cover factor. The average of these results represents the ‘after’ erosion rate. The erosion rates are scaled to represent the percentage of fine sediment delivered to the stream.
Delivery ratios
The modelling simulations that are used in P2R Projector generate sediment and nitrogen yield at the paddock edge. Before these modelling simulations are added to the P2R simulation lookup tables, a scaling factor (delivery ratio) is applied to account for losses and transformation between the paddock and stream network.
P2R Projector (and hence Natural Capital Credit) reports load reduction at the end of the catchment (delivered to the reef). To achieve the end of the catchment estimate, load delivered to the stream is scaled by a delivery ratio to account for losses and transformation in the river network.
More information
Paddock water balance models
Erosion/ground cover models
Paddock to Reef Integrated Monitoring, Modelling and Reporting Program
Get access
Natural Capital Credit access is curated. To get you started we need to create a group for you. Once created you control membership to your group.