Converting productive agricultural land into forestry is not the panacea for reducing emissions that the 2024 climate review proposes.
It is but one example of where the Agriculture, Land and Emissions discussion paper completely misses the mark on the role primary production plays in our country’s emissions ambitions – alongside our UN Development goals such as zero hunger.
The op-ed piece by Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen in last week’s Queensland Country Life did not provide any comfort.
The fact is that the agricultural industry has shown the largest net reduction in emissions of any industry since the 1995 baseline.
This fact is verified in the national accounts and is not up for debate.
There is also a lot more industry is keen and able to do – and do in a way that allows for an increase in production, industry efficiency and investment certainty alongside further lowering net emissions.
So, why is this report missing the mark and why has the federal government again kicked vital policy reform work down the road?
Nature Positive reform across several federal policy instruments as well as sectoral decarbonisation plans were due in the last term of the Federal Government – but were instead kicked down the road with no certainty about when and how they’ll ever be delivered.
We have examples such as uncertainty in carbon calculators, a tenuous link at best between local calculators to important international standards across Natural Capital, and these are only exacerbated by this ongoing prevarication.
Meantime, this increasing lack of clarity on much-needed reform is affecting producers, other businesses, and regional communities, not to mention landscapes, biodiversity and food security, particularly with the level of investment uncertainty this brings.
The government has undertaken to set a 2035 emissions target by this September to meet the deadline for a United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, yet we are yet to do the work that would allow us to set one. Targets without foundation are incredibly unhelpful at best.
Despite the pessimism I express here, there remains a real opportunity for Australia to lift food security, build further productivity into an industry every Australian can be proud of AND further reduce our net emissions profile.
Call it chewing gum and walking at the same time if you like.
Of course, the other piece critical for producers to do is to bring landscape, biodiversity, and net emissions reduction into your long-term property planning.
Central to that is that you start by baselining your Natural Capital assets at a property level to ensure you can tell your story and benefit from leveraging those assets (monetarily and otherwise) going forward.
So we say to Minister Chris Bowen – AgForce and industry remain ready and able to work alongside you to bring this opportunity to life.
Please do not leave us on the fringe in an area where we have so much to offer.
