how are they going to get the land, page-5

Sandalwood are able to be used for sequestration if the trees are grown for nut production. With growers achieving gross margins in excess of $10,000/ha in nut sales on less than 300mm rainfall this year for trees older than 4 years, you would be hardpressed to convince them to pull the trees out for aromatic uses. There are many dedicated nut production orchards hitting the ground - www.australianuts.com, www.wasandalwood.com, www.sandalwood.org.au. These orchards qualify for carbon payments as trees live for hundreds of years also. Some host trees are short lived but host trees can be selected for longevity too eg Allocasuarinas and Acacia aneura.

If you commit to mallees for carbon you can't touch them. Can't even access the biomass should biomass to liquid fuel technology advance and it is. Carbon payments will always be well below what other cropping options can offer farmers. Its a dud deal for landowners no doubt about it.

The other problem for areas suited to mallees is that the land base is appreciating despite the drought as farmers and investors begin to appreciate the potential for Australian sandalwood in those areas. In other words sandalwood economics are beginning to influence the values of land whereas in the past it was drought likely wheat crops.

In saying all this there is momentum to trade but long term this model has a lot of challenges many people would not be aware of.