A new assessment by eminent scientists of Australia’s degraded environment has worked out that we can restore our continent’s landscape to its pre-European state with less than a quarter of what we spend annually on our pets.

“Blueprint to Repair Australia’s Landscapes”, launched last week by the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists, describes 24 practical actions and investments over 30 years to repair 250 years of environmental damage since Europeans settled here. The cost of just $7.3 billion a year is just 0.3 per cent of national GDP and a fraction of the estimated $33 billion we spend annually on our pets.

The plan covers land, aquatic and marine ecosystems, with an emphasis on improving soils for both native vegetation and agriculture. It will only work, say its authors, if it’s supported at a scale that allows the full participation of communities with connections to the land.

A key objective is to bring together agricultural productivity and broader national aims for biodiversity and climate change by arming landholders with the knowledge and capacity to improve economic productivity and catchment health while sequestering carbon and helping biodiversity.

Annette Cowie, a senior NSW government and University of New England scientist, wasn’t among the scientific luminaries whose names are attached to the report, but she probably should have been. As a specialist in soil science and plant nutrition, she has an astonishing 36-year record as co-author of over 400 research papers including over 50 as lead author.

Cowie’s name looms large in a growing global focus on biochar as a multi-purpose tool. While markedly improving soil fertility, biochar also halves emissions of nitrous oxide (a potent greenhouse gas) and fixes carbon in the soil. Globally, biochar could store up to 4.6 billion tonnes of CO2 each year, says Cowie.

It can do even more. In a world crying out for energy solutions, the essential process of biochar production, pyrolysis, can generate renewable heat and electricity. Current research is also indicating that it will be possible to render “forever” plastics including polystyrene and PFAS into porous, non-toxic char that can safely be returned to the ground.

It would be a shame to see the seeds sown by Cowie and the Wentworth Group fall on barren ground, a victim of official indifference. That won’t happen if the cause is taken up by enough people who care about the land they live on. The experience of those many Australians who have started on this path says that bringing new life to our landscapes – including their capacity to produce food – makes us happier and healthier.

One of these people is agricultural scientist Christina Giudici. I first came across her 15 years ago when she and fellow-scientist Juliet Chapman set up FIMBY, initials for “food in my back yard”. The idea – to provide households with design, planting and other help to create food gardens – continues to attract custom, and has been further developed by others including Sage Gardening Services.

Starting with making biochar in pit kilns for use in her own garden and with customers, Guidici has now joined forces with sawmill engineer Bodie Cavanagh and process engineer James Fox to create “The New Black”. This is a biochar project based at Dovetail Timber’s Glen Huon sawmill, which makes things from salvaged wood that’s been rejected after felling by mainstream forest industries.

Biochar in its simplest form has been a thing in Tasmania for years now, using the “flame cap” technique involving burning wood waste in the open. A flame, constantly fed with readily flammable fuel, stops the coals beneath from turning to ash by stopping oxygen from getting to them, while ensuring gases are fully combusted and no smoke escapes. Carbon dioxide release is much less than a normal fire; about half the carbon in the wood is retained as char when the fire is quenched with water.

CO2 emissions from The New Black’s biochar kiln are very low; the closed loop system recycles released gases and particles. The spectacular plant at Dovetail Timber was devised by Fox using largely recycled parts put together with help from his University of Tasmania engineering students. Fed with sawdust and other woody waste, this system captures particles and gases emitted by burning fuel and recycles them as fuel to keep the process going indefinitely.

 For more information go to newblackbiochar.com.au.