New Zealand will have to make very substantial decreases in livestock numbers and move away from the kind of reliance we have at present on dairying and meat and wool production.

[Guest guest]

New Zealand's worst animal abusers being forced to wake up a little! - John

 

Can New Zealand weather the changes?

 

Saturday November 4, 2006

By Catherine Masters

 

Section from the article posted at -

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1 & objectid=10409077

 

Agriculture

 

New Zealand's greenhouse-gas emissions profile is markedly different to those of

other countries.

Along with carbon dioxide emissions from energy, cars exhausts and fossil fuels,

we have the gnarly problem of 40 million sheep, 10 million cattle and a couple

of million deer.

They belch (not fart) methane which is a far more damaging factor than CO2 in

the mechanism of climate change, and they excrete nitrous oxide emissions

through fecal matter and urine. Methane is 20 times more potent than CO2 - and

nitrous oxide 300 times more potent.

Dr Harry Clark, from Agresearch, says there is no " near fix " for reducing

methane emissions, but work on reducing nitrous oxide is progressing well.

He is certain a breakthrough will be made for methane emissions, perhaps by way

of chemical intervention. It may be possible to develop a product, say a pill

fed to the animal, which would selectively knock out organisms in an animal's

digestive system and reduce the methane released.

Extreme weather could have an impact on how and where we farm. " Over time what

climate change will do will alter the land use patterns, you'll be moving out of

some enterprises, moving into others. "

Jonathan Boston, a professor of public policy at Victoria University, is more

apprehensive.

He says if we cannot find ways to reduce methane emissions and the world

community decides to take collective action, New Zealand will have to make very

substantial decreases in livestock numbers and move away from the kind of

reliance we have at present on dairying and meat and wool production.

Boston has young children. Even if the world takes the action required to avert

catastrophic global warming, the way they live in less than 50 years will still

be very different.

" It seems very likely we will be driving very different kinds of cars, that

we'll be relying on potentially different modes of transport.

" We may well be eating a different combination of foods, and it may well be that

the structure of the agricultural sector is rather different. "

 

 

 

 

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