Audit solutions won't work against climate change - look to the practical
Its encouraging to have some better acceptance of the need to address climate change. What is frustrating is the lack of meaningful engagement and the absence of applied science to find solutions. It has largely been slogans and talk fests combined with finger pointing as to who the worst perpetrators are by country and by sector. Im no doubt biased. Im a farmer and I take exception to some hyperbole levelled at the industry which largely creates the bulk of the wealth that pays for so much of the social needs and services of our country. New Zealand is the most efficient food producer in the world. READ MORE: * Fonterra's Hurrell says New Zealand milk is the most valuable in the world * COP26: James Shaw confirms no new methane cuts involved in joining global pledge * The future of farming: What will NZ's agri sector look like in 20 years? In the 1990s a program called food miles was initiated against New Zealand produce, from European interests trying to shore up sales of their product over imports. This very much blew up in their faces when serious analysis proved that even after shipping and distribution footprints were calculated, our product was produced so efficiently that European product came a poor second to New Zealand for carbon footprint. Food miles included. Ive heard figures that suggest agriculture is responsible for about 80 percent of NZs carbon footprint. But one of the problems we have is that the international methodology for calculating the carbon footprint is to take the amount of food produced by a country and divide the emissions created by the number of people who live there. So New Zealand is always going to look excessive under such a system when we produce six times the quantity of food we can consume in this country as we are export orientated. The second issue which distorts our figures is whether the calculations are done on a net or gross calculation. Its quite simple to make calculations on what a perceived emission profile from an animal is. But animals dont just sit in a paddock and emit. They have to consume foliage which has already sequestered carbon so the net figure is the important one. Finger pointing at agriculture while the urban populace is reluctant to dispose of petrol or diesel-inefficient vehicles is going to get us nowhere. Now we come to policy solutions. Its been suggested that we need to reduce livestock by 15 per cent . There is also a move to plant substantial tracts of productive land in trees. Where is the science in this approach? A lot of activity taking place, that will produce long term solutions, is being completely ignored at the moment. Work is advancing on herbage with a lower methane release. Work at the Cawthron Institute and also in Australia is looking at additives like the seaweed asparagopsis which appears to have a significant impact as a methane inhibitor when feed to animals. In New Zealand we have completely ignored carbon sequestration into the soil under pasture. At least Australia is doing some serious work on this subject. One of the really exciting prospects is identifying animals with low emission potential. Work to date shows that the most efficient animals have a 70 percent lower methane emission footprint than the worst emitters and this trait is highly heritable. So one wonders why reducing numbers and planting trees should take precedence over what can be a long term solution. Not only that - it will place New Zealand in a market with increasing discretion on these matters, a significant advantage. Let alone providing the world with some much-needed solutions. What we seem to be doing is providing an audit solution in a world that needs some effective practical solutions as it battles with reducing its liabilities of greenhouse gas emissions. Every time I drive through Central Otago and observe some of the ground which was laid waste by gold sluicing or dredging in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century I cant help thinking that the gold that this extracted at the time was worth about six dollars an ounce. Some of the best horticultural land in NZ, wrecked. Is there a parallel when currently overseas interests are out bidding the productive sector and buying large scale properties in many parts of our country? There seems to be two sets of rules. If I want to change a land use on my property I need to go through a consent process in distinct contrast to foreign interests with no scrutiny on forest species in a country where we currently spend millions on wilding pine infestation. Then theres the issue of community collapse. Plant a significant portion of any district in trees, then there is depopulation. The local school and the mail car and other services become unviable, remaining landholders lose heart and the cycle of forestation accelerates. Looking at our transport footprint, there has been virtually no progress. Yes theres been some increase in EVs but off a very small base. If we are to move from our dependence on fossil fuels one could assume that about 30 percent of our transport fleet could become EVs or hybrids assuming that the world can produce enough lithium for the batteries and an appropriate disposal of spent batteries can be achieved. Of the rest, which is mainly heavy vehicles, new technology around hydrogen shows the most promise. If we are to deal with electricity on a sustainable basis Huntley and the 2 million tons of imported coal have to be ended. Our regenerative electricity production will about have to treble. Some interesting debates will have to take place as we find solutions which will demand some compromise. Nuclear reactors? Some of the hydro stations that have been ruled out because of environmental concerns will have to be back on the table. For generations we have shown a can-do and problem solving attitude that has been a world leader. Way back in the late 19th century explorer Henry Homer, after forging up the Hollyford valley, sat astride the pass at the top looking into the Cleddeau valley that leads to Milford and made the comment that a tunnel was required. When he made that comment there were four motor cars in the country. Short of this sort of engagement, our grandchildren will most probably be some sort of new age hippies practising shifting horticulture in the clearings of the national pine forest.