Managing carbon sources and sinks in Australia's rangelands and tropical Savannas

摘要

Background Australia's rangelands and savannas occupy about 80% of the continent and play an important role in the country's carbon balance.Grazing by livestock is the most extensive land use, and the savannas are subject to frequent, extensive fire, especially in the north, where annual rainfall exceeds 1000 mm.Savanna burning plus direct emissions from Australia's domestic livestock ( mainly sheep and cattle) account for about 15 % of Australia's accountable CO2 equivalent ( CO2 ‐e) emissions per year.In this paper, we discuss the potential to reduce emissions via land management instruments, ecosystem capacity to sequester carbon,and investment and management strategies that can lower the carbon footprint of land use in these ecosystems.