NSW Nats make history on soil carbon

I felt like Alice in Wonderland. I was in a room full of National Party MPs and they were talking soil carbon credits like seasoned Carbon Coalition members. I've always liked the Nats as people - they aren't oily like the Libs who smarm and charm and say whatever they think you want to hear. Nats don't care what you think. They stand by what they are: royalists, traditionlists, anti-greenists, pro-development, and normally anti-conservation.

But the whiff of cash can turn an eco-trog into a green frog-lover. That's the beauty of soil carbon credits. They turned the NSW Nats into greenies. The Carbon Coalition in the form of Michael Kiely and Bruce Ward supplied all the data used for the Nat's new soil carbon election platform.

The Carbon Coalition congratulates the NSW Nationals!

Nationals aim to store carbon in soil

March 12, 2007 - 1:29PM

The NSW National Party will spend $3.6 million developing methods to store atmospheric carbon in soil if the coalition wins government at the March 24 election, Nationals leader Andrew Stoner says.

He says the Nationals will use the funds to distribute information about carbon storage to NSW farmers and to pay for the necessary research into the current levels of carbon in soils around the state.

"This is the most significant policy that's been put forward by any political party to actually reduce the atmospheric carbon and do something positive about climate change," Mr Stoner told reporters.

Enabling carbon storage in soil would greatly reduce the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and increase the health of agricultural soils, he said.

"The potential to lock up literally billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide, it's there, and country NSW and farmers hold the key," Mr Stoner said.

"It's a win, win, win. It's a win for the farmer, it's a win for the environment, and it's a win for our rural economies."

A market could be developed for trading soil carbon credits, Mr Stoner said, while an increase in soil carbon would mean farmers would spend less on nutrients for their pastures.

Nationals MP Rick Colless, himself a farmer who is already using carbon storage methods, said an increase in the level of carbon in soil increased water retention, reducing the effects of drought and also reduced erosion and salinity.

© 2007 AAP