Capacity of rural industries to adapt to climate change?
The Australian Landcare Council (ALC) is holding a forum on climate change and carbon trading in Canberra on February 12-13, 2008. We have been asked to provide suggestions/advice in response to the question:
| "How can the Australian Government best direct future investment to boost rural industries’ capacity to adapt to climate change?†|
This ALC forum may have an opportunity to influence emerging policies and programs of the new federal government. Please feel free to contribute to the debate here online. You can also make a contribution directly to John Dalton, State Landcare Co-ordinator (john.dalton@rlpb.org.au) or Scott Wyatt,
Executive Officer, ALC (landcare@secretariat.com.au)
John Dalton, State Landcare Co-ordinator, offers the following suggestions of issues that may require consideration:
â–º How clearly established are the time lines and probabilities of the changes in temperature, rainfall, extreme events in various parts of NSW, what are the determinants and boundaries of these “climate change regionsâ€, and how different are the likely climate change scenarios of each region?
â–º Are adaptations to climate change generally similar to those considered good practice for sustainable production? (e.g. maintaining ground cover and biodiversity, building soil organic matter/carbon via such practices as minimum/no-till, controlled traffic, cover cropping, pasture cropping, strategic/time-controlled grazing, promotion of perennial pastures/native pastures, establishment of biodiversity/shelter belts, etc, etc, including in the rangelands densification of water points, fencing off/trap yards at waters, rabbit/feral goat (and roo) control and various management techniques to reduce/control INS)?
â–º What non-NRM adaptations are already proven effective, need further development (e.g. drought bonds, EC-related subsidies, value adding, diversified off-farm investment, non-farm employment, various forms of syndication, improved market access, EMS, carbonfarming/trading)?
► Should farmers be trading their carbon rights before assessing their own farm’s current and future carbon footprint and whether they may need these same rights to remain carbon neutral in the future (including after agriculture is included in any carbon tax regime)?
