Method catalogue.
Welcome to the Accounting for Nature® Method Catalogue. It serves as a repository of accredited methodologies designed to facilitate the build of an Environmental Account.
Selecting or creating an Accredited Method is an essential step in following the Accounting for Nature® Framework and preparing an Environmental Account.
The catalogue offers a selection of accredited methodologies designed to detail measurement and reporting requirements on environmental assets, tailored to diverse regions, ecosystems, and sub-regions. Users of the Accounting for Nature® Framework must select a Method for each environmental asset in an Environmental Account.
Methods listed in the catalogue include key details to help you choose one that is most appropriate for your purpose. Importantly, each Method identifies what type of expertise is required or recommended to implement the Method. Where a Method requires an expert with specific skills, Accounting for Nature will require evidence of these skills at the account registration and certification steps. If the expert is already accredited as an Asset Expert, additional evidence will not be necessary.
Explore the Accounting for Nature® Method catalogue.
International Methods.
The Accounting for Nature® Framework including Accredited Methods are referenced in the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) Guidance on the identification and assessment of nature-related issues: the LEAP approach.
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Realms
Environmental Asset Classes
Native Vegetation
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Method ID: AfN-METHOD-NV-01
Status: Approved 15 April 2020
Accuracy: Very High (95%) or High (90%)
Scale: Project or Property
Location use: Queensland, Australia
Summary: The Qld Government Land Restoration Fund Native Vegetation Monitoring Method has been developed by the Queensland Government to facilitate co-benefit verification under their Land Restoration Fund (LRF). The Method is based off the Queensland Herbariums BioCondition Assessment and can be applied to any project (particularly those under the LRF) in Queensland, to measure the condition of any terrestrial ecosystem or vegetated wetland for which a reference Regional Ecosystem (RE) can be assigned.
Data Collection: Field and GIS
Stratification: Assessment units are unique combinations of sub-assets (i.e. pre-clear vegetation types) and broad condition states (e.g. remnant, regrowth, cleared)
Indicators:
Very High Accuracy (95%): Large trees, tree canopy height, recruitment of canopy species, tree canopy cover, shrub cover, coarse woody debris, native plant species richness (for four life forms), non-native plant cover, native perennial grass cover, litter cover, site context (patch size, connectivity and context).
High Accuracy (90%): Large trees, tree canopy height, tree canopy cover, shrub cover, non-native plant cover, litter cover, site context (patch size, connectivity and context).
Expertise:
Very High Accuracy (95%) : Native vegetation specialist required
High Accuracy (90%): Native vegetation specialist recommended
Licence: Open
Embargo Period: None
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Method ID: AfN-METHOD-NV-02
Status: Approved 16 September 2020
Accuracy: Very High (95%) or High (90%)
Scale: Project or Property
Location use: Australia-wide
Summary: The CO2 Australia Native Vegetation Econd Method has been developed as a basis for third party certification of measurement and reporting of broad biodiversity values of environmental accounting assets. The Method has been based of various State Government Condition Assessment Frameworks and is applicable to any terrestrial wooded ecosystem throughout Australia.
Data Collection: Field and GIS
Stratification: Broad Vegetation Groups (which may be comprised of multiple vegetation communities and different broad condition states).
Indicators: Species richness (Trees, Shrubs, Grass, Forbs/Other), large trees, tree canopy height, tree canopy Cover, shrub canopy cover, Recruitment of dominant canopy species, woody debris, organic litter cover, native grass cover, non-native plant cover, configuration
Expertise: Native vegetation specialist required
Licence: Fee required, contact CO2 Australia for more information
Embargo Period: Ended 18 October 2023
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Method ID: AfN-METHOD-NV-03
Status: Approved 23 October 2020
Accuracy: High (90%)
Scale: Project or Property
Location use: Australia-wide
Summary: The GreenCollar Native Vegetation Condition Monitoring Method has been developed to generate Environmental Accounts for use in environmental markets including, but not limited to, co-benefit verification for carbon projects. The target audience is governments, corporations, farmers, producers, Indigenous and private land conservation groups, and other landholders. The Method aims to be a high integrity Method that is practical and affordable and can be applied nation-wide across Australia.
Data Collection: Field and GIS
Stratification: Assessment units are unique combinations of sub-assets (i.e. pre-clear vegetation types) and broad condition states (e.g. remnant, regrowth, cleared)
Indicators: Basal area or biomass (trees or shrubs or both combined); large trees; native plant species richness (trees); native plant species richness (shrubs); non-native plant cover; recruitment of canopy species; site context
Expertise: Native vegetation specialist recommended
Licence: Open
Embargo Period: Ended 19 November 2023
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Method ID: AfN-METHOD-NV-05
Status: Approved 9 December 2020
Accuracy: Very High (95%) or High (90%)
Scale: Project or Property
Location use: Victoria, Australia
Summary: The Kilter Rural Vegetation Assessment Methodology was developed for Diverse Regenerating Farmlands with the aim to monitor and compare the health and condition of natural assets from the individual patch level, up to the entire farm. This is important for informing management decisions to deliver long-term sustainable food and fibre for consumers, and long-term value and new revenue streams to its investors. The Method is based of the Victorian Habitat Hectares Condition Assessment.
Data Collection: Field and GIS
Stratification: Assessment units are spatial subsets of the accounting area defined by intersecting sub-assets (vegetation communities) with broad condition states.
Indicators: Large trees, canopy cover, cover of different life form groups, species richness of different life form groups, weed cover, organic litter cover, logs, recruitment, patch size, context, distance to core neighbourhood.
Expertise: Native vegetation specialist required
Licence: Fee Required, contact Kilter Rural for more information.
Embargo Period: Ended 09 December 2023
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Method ID: AfN-METHOD-NV-06
Status: Approved 8 February 2021
Accuracy: Moderate (80%)
Scale: Project or Property
Location use: Australia-wide
Summary: The Accounting for Nature and Landcare Native Vegetation Method was developed as an Entry-level Method for landholders to easily monitor and understand the condition of native vegetation within their property. It has been developed as a simplified and rapid version of the Queensland Herbarium’s BioCondition Assessment Framework.
Data Collection: Field and GIS
Stratification: Assessment units are unique combinations of vegetation community or broad vegetation group and land-use/broad condition state
Indicators: Native canopy height, native sub-canopy height, native canopy cover, native sub-canopy cover, native shrub cover, non-native plant cover, organic litter ground cover, native perennial grass cover, site context
Expertise: Native vegetation specialist recommended
Licence: Open
Embargo Period: None
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Method ID: AfN-METHOD-NV-07
Status: Approved 26 June 2021
Accuracy: Very High (95%), High (90%) or Moderate (80%)
Scale: Project or Property
Location use: Australia-wide
Summary: The Bush Heritage Native Vegetation Assessment Methodology was developed to assess and track the change in vegetation condition in a wide variety of landscapes from arid rangelands to heathlands and grassy woodlands. The Method was built on the current monitoring and evaluation programs used by Bush Heritage.
Data Collection: Field and GIS
Stratification: Assessment units are unique combinations of vegetation community and broad condition state/land-use history
Indicators: Native canopy height, native tree canopy health score, native tree canopy cover, native shrub cover, non-native shrub/tree cover, native herbaceous cover, non-native herbaceous cover, organic litter ground cover, cryptogram cover, native tree density, number of native species present for canopy and shrub layer, number of native species present for herbaceous layer, fallen timber >1000 mm diameter, configuration
Expertise: Native vegetation specialist required
Licence: Fee required, contact Bush Heritage Australia for more information
Embargo Period: None
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Method ID: AfN-METHOD-NV-08
Status: Approved 26 August 2021
Accuracy: Moderate (80%)
Scale: Project or Property
Location use: Australia-wide
Summary: The Method to assess the Econd and Pcond of Permanent and Perennial Pastures was developed as an Entry-level Method for landholders to easily monitor and understand the environmental and productive condition of native vegetation within their grazing paddocks.
Data Collection: Field and GIS
Stratification: Assessment units are unique combinations of vegetation community and land-use history/broad condition state. Can also include paddocks to get paddock specific scores.
Econd Indicators: Cover of native perennial grass, organic litter cover, non-native plant cover, tree cover, sub-canopy cover, shrub cover, tree height, sub-canopy height, context
Pcond Indicators: Cover of 3P Species (native and non-native), diversity of palatable species, total ground cover, erosion, woody thickening.
Expertise: Native vegetation specialist recommended
Licence: Open
Embargo Period: None
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Method ID: AfN-METHOD-NV-09
Status: Approved 08 February 2022
Accuracy: Moderate (80%)
Scale: Regional
Location use: Australia-wide
Summary: This Method has been developed to help regional land managers (such as Natural Resource Managers and Local Governments) better understand how the condition of vegetation and the extent of different land-uses are changing over time within their region. The Method generates a Vegetation Condition map that can be interrogated and summarised in different ways, including: an average Econd® for each land-use/land-cover class, an average Econd® score for each vegetation type within the region; as well as an overall summary Econd® score.
Data Collection: GIS and Expert Elicitation
Stratification: For the assessment, the region is broken into unique segments based on land-use and land-cover (option to also include vegetation communities)
Indicators: Vegetation composition and configuration
Expertise: Various specialists required
Licence: Open
Embargo Period: None
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Method ID: AfN-METHOD-NV-10
Status: Approved 25 May 2022
Accuracy: Very High (95%), High (90%) or Moderate (80%)
Scale: Whole of Reserve or Property of any size
Location use: Australia-wide
Summary: Efficient and accurate Native Vegetation condition method that uses fit for purpose technology (e.g. UAV imagery) to minimise field expenses. The Method is applicable nationwide for all vegetation communities except closed canopy forests.
Data Collection: Remote sensing, UAV imagery, Field
Stratification: Vegetation sub-asset, threatened ecological communities, land-use history/broad condition state
Indicators: Native canopy height, native tree canopy cover, native size structure, native species count of canopy and shrub layer, native canopy recruitment, native shrub cover, non-native shrub cover, native herbaceous cover, native species richness for herbaceous layer (graminoids, forbs, other species), non-native herbaceous cover, organic litter ground cover, cryptogram cover, coarse woody debris, notes on future health indicators, configuration.
Expertise: Native vegetation specialist required
Licence: Fee required, contact Bush Heritage Australia for more information
Embargo Period: Ended 22 April 2024
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Method ID: AfN-METHOD-NV-11
Status: Approved 5 December 2022
Accuracy: High (90%) or Moderate (80%)
Scale: Property, Project and Aggregate Scales
Location use: Tasmania, Australia
Summary: The method has been developed to assess the condition of native vegetation within Tasmania. This Method has modified the existing Tasmanian Vegetation Condition Assessment Method (Michaels, 2006), so that it can be used to support environmental condition accounting within the Accounting for Nature Framework. The existing VCA method (Michaels, 2006) is already widely used by developers, land managers and environmental agencies, and provides a tool for both snapshot surveys as well as long-term monitoring of changes over time in vegetation condition.
Data Collection: Field and GIS
Stratification: Broad vegetation groups as defined in TASVEG vegetation mapping are subdivided into Assessment units based on management approach, or condition state (where applicable).
Indicators: Large trees, tree canopy cover, dominant life form cover, understorey lifeforms, lack of weeds, recruitment, persistence potential, organic litter, logs, configuration.
Expertise: Native vegetation specialist required
Licence: Open
Embargo Period: None
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Method ID: AfN-METHOD-NV-12
Status: Approved 5 December 2022
Accuracy: Moderate (80%)
Scale: Regional Accounts (minimum of 100,000 ha)
Location use: Australia’s spinifex-dominated deserts
Summary: The Desert Habitat Method has been developed to provide desert land managers with a transparent, practical, and robust tool that can be used to evaluate large-scale land management programs occurring within Australia’s spinifex dominated deserts. It has been designed to provide improved scientific guidance to these programs and promote improved environmental outcomes for desert country, as well as to help enable access to emerging environmental markets. The target audience this method is desert land managers, and particularly indigenous land management organisations and ranger teams.
Data Collection: GIS and field observations
Stratification: Spinifex sandplains and dunefields divided into broad condition states.
Indicators: Extent, composition, configuration
Expertise: Various specialists required
Licence: Fee required, contact AfN for more information
Embargo Period: 3 years (ending April 2026)
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Method ID: AfN-METHOD-NV-13
Status: Approved 27 March 2023
Accuracy: Very High (95%)
Scale: Aggregate Project scale
Location use: New South Wales – all vegetated ecosystems
Summary: The NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust (BCT) has developed this method, under the Accounting for Nature® Framework, as a basis for third-party certification of measurement and reporting of native vegetation condition. The method provides an opportunity for monitoring the absolute change in vegetation condition resulting from BCT Private Land Conservation agreements. It also provides opportunity for landholders to use the BCT Accounting for Nature ® methodology to establish individual project-scale accounts of vegetation change over time.
Data Collection: GIS, field surveys and photographs
Stratification: Combination of vegetation class, broad condition state, and BCT Conservation Agreement.
Indicators: Vascular plant species richness, cover, abundance, litter cover, number of tree stem size classes, number of large trees, total length of fallen logs, site context.
Expertise: Native Vegetation specialists required (ability to identify plant communities and species)
Licence: Open
Embargo Period: None
Soil & Sediment
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Method ID: AfN-METHOD-S-01
Status: Approved 2 September 2020
Accuracy: Very High (95%) or High (90%)
Scale: Project or Property
Location use: Queensland, Australia
Summary: The Queensland Government Land Restoration Soil Monitoring Method has been developed by the Queensland Government to facilitate co-benefit verification under their Land Restoration Fund (LRF). It is an option for third-party certification of measurements and reporting of soil condition in accordance with the LRF co-benefit Standard. It can be applied to any project under the LRF in Queensland, to measure soil condition and uses the Australian Soil Classification system to assign soil types.
Data Collection: Field samples (sent for lab analysis) and GIS
Stratification: Assessment units are defined by soil orders or soil types, with land-use or broad condition states.
Indicators:
Very High (95%) Accuracy: Soil organic carbon, soil pH, ground cover, saline extent, soil electrical conductivity (0-30 cm), total soil N, bulk density
High (90%) Accuracy: Soil organic carbon, soil pH, ground cover, saline extent
Expertise: Soil specialist recommended
Licence: Open
Embargo Period: None
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Method ID: AfN-METHOD-S-02
Status: Approved 8 February 2021
Accuracy: Moderate (80%)
Scale: Project or Property
Location use: Australia-wide
Summary: The Level 3 Soil Assessment for Productive Land was developed as an Entry-level Method for landholders to easily monitor and understand their property’s soil condition in a cost-effective way. This method also includes calculation of a ‘Pcond’ (Production Condition) alongside the Econd™, which allows landholders to understand the trade-offs (if any) between production and the environment.
Data Collection: Field samples (sent for lab analysis) and GIS
Stratification: Assessment units are defined by soil orders or soil types, with land-use or broad condition states.
Indicators: Soil organic carbon, soil pH, soil electrical conductivity, extractable phosphorus, ground cover
Expertise: Soil specialist recommended
Licence: Open
Embargo Period: None
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Method ID: AfN-METHOD-S-03
Status: Approved 19 August 2021
Accuracy: High (90%) or Moderate (80%)
Scale: Project or Property
Location use: Victoria
Summary: The Kilter Rural Soil Assessment Methodology was developed for Diverse Regenerating Farmlands with the aim to monitor and compare the health and condition of natural assets from the individual patch level, up to the entire farm. This is important for informing management decisions to deliver long-term sustainable food and fibre for consumers, and long-term value and new revenue streams to its investors. This method also includes calculation of a ‘Pcond’ (Production Condition) alongside the Econd®, which can highlight the trade-offs (if any) between production and the environment.
Data Collection: Field samples (sent for lab analysis) and GIS
Stratification: Assessment units are defined by soil orders or soil types, with land-use or broad condition states.
Indicators: Soil pH, soil organic carbon, soil salinity, exchangeable sodium percentage, soil fertility (for Pcond only)
Expertise: Soil specialist recommended
Licence: Fee Required, contact Kilter Rural for more information.
Embargo Period: 3 years (ends 19 August 2024)
Native Fauna
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Method ID: AfN-METHOD-F-01
Status: Approved 26 August 2021
Accuracy: Moderate (80%)
Scale: Project or Property
Location use: Australia-wide
Summary: The Method allows proponents to monitor the condition of ground-dwelling and arboreal mammals within the property/project area. The method uses wildlife camera surveys to detect current mammal species richness, which is compared to 'undegraded' mammal species richness (the Reference Benchmark) to give an estimate of mammal condition. The Reference Benchmark for this Method has been developed by AfN and is available upon request.
Data Collection: Wildlife Cameras and GIS
Stratification: The accounting area is divided into assessment units based on management approach (e.g. grazing, conservation area). Within those assessment units, sites should be located to ensure that sampling is representative of the habitat types (e.g. vegetation types, rocky outcrops).
Indicators: Species Richness
Expertise: Mammal specialist required in first year, and recommended in subsequent years
Licence: Open
Embargo Period: None
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Method ID: AfN-METHOD-F-02
Status: Approved 19 November 2021
Accuracy: Very High (90%) or High (80%)
Scale: Project or Property
Location use: Australia-wide (Woodlands only)
Summary: This 90%/80% Accuracy bird fauna method is designed for large regenerative agricultural landscapes where significant areas of native woodland vegetation are being protected or re-established. It is attentive to survey resource constraints of a commercial farmland operation. The method applies a peer-reviewed mathematical relationship between woodland bird condition, and species richness and proportion of small bodied species. It’s input data is that collected from the standard 20 min – 2 ha bird survey technique.
Data Collection: Field and GIS
Stratification: Assessment units are spatial subsets of the accounting area defined by intersecting vegetation communities (or groups of vegetation communities forming bird habitat) with broad condition states.
Indicators: Total species richness, no. native woodland bird species, no. native small bodied species (<50 g).
Expertise: Bird specialist required in first year, and recommended in subsequent years
Licence: Fee Required, contact Kilter Rural for more information.
Embargo Period: Ended 10 April 2024
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Method ID: AfN-METHOD-F-03
Status: Approved 14 December 2021
Accuracy: Moderate (80%)
Scale: Regional Scale
Location use: Global
Summary: Threatened species assessments by expert committees are an important tool for understanding the extinction risk of species at a continental scale or state scale, aiding the prioritising and conservation management of at-risk species. But it is also important to understand the conservation status of native species at regional scale, as this is often the scale at which conservation management is applied by organisations such as NRM Regions and Local Governments. The Method focuses on terrestrial, freshwater, and coastal vertebrate species including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. The Method is based on an elicitation process where experts in the ecology and management of vertebrate taxa are provided a compilation of available data and are guided through a structured decision-making process by an expert elicitation specialist. Producing a regional fauna Environmental Account can provide communities with a greater understanding of the conservation status of their local fauna and inform regional conservation initiatives.
Data Collection: Expert Elicitation
Stratification: Non spatial vertebrate groups – mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish.
Indicators: Each species within an animal group is assigned a Red List Category, these are aggregated to give a measure of current extinction risk status (ER) for the animal group. The red list index is then calculated for the species group by comparing the current extinction risk and the potential extinction risk (if all species were extinct).
Expertise: Various specialists required
Licence: Open
Embargo Period: None
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Method ID: AfN-METHOD-F-04
Status: Approved 14 December 2021
Accuracy: Very High (95%), High (90%) or Moderate (80%)
Scale: Properties/projects (>100 ha) or Aggregations
Location use: South-east Queensland & Northern New South Wales, Australia
Summary: This Method has been co-developed by Queensland Trust for Nature, GreenCollar and Worldwide Fund for Nature Australia. It was developed to assess the condition of Koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) presence and habitat quality at the property and project scale in Australia. The Method generates two separate Econd® scores for a threatened species. Proponents can measure one or both components:
Component A: Koala Population (koala activity, presence and distribution) and
Component B: Koala Habitat (context, extent and connectivity of habitat, threats, food trees and forest structure).
Data Collection: Field and GIS
Stratification:
Very High (95%) Accuracy: clearing history within each vegetation type
High (90%) Accuracy: clearing history
Moderate (80%) Accuracy: single assessment unit.
Indicators:
Component A: koala activity
Component B: context, extent, connectivity, number of food trees, number of large habitat trees, age structure of koala food trees, recruitment of koala food trees, non-native woody shrub cover, non-native predators, proximity to urban areas, proximity to roads
Expertise:
Component A (all Accuracy levels): experience with SAT required in first year and recommended in subsequent years
Expertise for Component B (95% Accuracy): Native vegetation specialist required
Expertise for Component B (90% Accuracy): Native vegetation specialist recommended
Licence: Open
Embargo Period: None
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Method ID: AfN-METHOD-F-05
Status: Approved 21 March 2022
Accuracy: Very High (95%), High (90%) or Moderate (80%)
Scale: Property or Regional
Location use: Australia-wide
Summary: This Method has been developed by EnviroDNA to assess the condition of aquatic vertebrates by measuring species richness over time, and is applicable Australia-wide at the property, catchment or regional scale. This Method uses environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis to detect aquatic vertebrate species, including birds, fish, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals.
Data Collection: Field, GIS, Lab analyses
Stratification:
Regional-scale: assessment units are defined by catchments/sub-catchments, and management considerations, broad habitat types, or other ecological characteristics relevant to accounting area
Project/property-scale: assessment units are based on broad habitat types
Indicators: Species richness
Expertise: EnviroDNA freshwater ecologist required
Licence: Open
Embargo Period: None
Water
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Method ID: AfN-METHOD-W-01
Status: Approved 08 February 2022
Accuracy: Very High (95%), High (90%) or Moderate (80%)
Scale: Regional
Location use: Queensland, Australia
Summary: This method has been developed to assess the condition of waterways within freshwater and estuarine river systems at the regional scale. Specifically, it aims to assess ecological flows, riparian vegetation, and concentrations of key water quality indicators to give an understanding of waterway condition within a region. This method can also be used with AfN-METHOD-F-05 to include an indicator class for aquatic vertebrates. This version of the Method is applicable to the Central Queensland Coast and South-East Queensland catchments.
Data Collection: Field, GIS, Lab analyses
Stratification: The sub-assets are defined as the individual river catchments in the accounting area. The water quality component then requires each waterway with the catchments to be stratified into sampling units based on water types.
Indicators: Water quality (nutrients, sediments, phytoplankton, physiochemical), Ecological Flows, Riparian extent. Option to also integrate AfN-METHOD-F-05 -aquatic vertebrate results into this waterway account.
Expertise: Freshwater specialists required
Licence: Open (Free to use)
Embargo Period: None
Ecosystem
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Method ID: AfN-METHOD-E-01
Status: Approved with conditions 19 April 2024
Accuracy: Very High (95%), High (90%) or Moderate (80%)
Scale: Project, Property, Region
Location use: Restoration projects in Europe.
Summary: This Method is designed to measure the condition of four key ecosystem processes that support the recovery of ecosystem integrity in the terrestrial realm.
Data Collection: Remote sensing, Field Data, existing datasets.
Stratification: Whole of account area.
Indicators: Bird Trait Diversity, Trophic Function, Landscape Connectivity, Vegetation Spatial Diversity.
Expertise: a specialist from CreditNature.
Licence: Fee required, contact Credit Nature for more information.
Embargo Period: 3 year (ending April 2027)
Conditions: This Method has been accredited with a number of conditions that will be tested by CreditNature and reviewed by AfN and the ISC over the next 12 months. During this time the Method is not permitted to be used for an Environmental Account by third-parties.
Microorganism
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PLANNING & SCOPING
We are currently in the early planning & scoping phase for a variety of microorganism assets.
Method creators have the option to withhold publication/public use of their Method for up to 3 years. If a user wishes to view a Method that is “under embargo,” they must contact us. We will request permission from the Method creator to share the Method with the user, subject to a Method Non Disclosure Agreement being signed. The user has one week to view the Method.