Latest Coalition Newsletter

Carbon Coalition Against Global Warming
Newsletter March 2007


Please pass this letter along to your contacts. We are building out database of supporters and need your help. Thank You!
_________________________________________

IN THIS ISSUE:
A Year On… Soil C on the Map
Still Seeking Scientific Measurement
Debunking the Soil C Myth
First Soil C Sales
We Make A Market
Register NOW to Sell your Soil C
Initiative: Soil-C-Central
Donations Needed
12 Month Activity Report
List of Coalition Blogsites
Soil C Can Be Measured For Trading

Greetings! It’s been a long time…

Sorry it’s been a long time between drinks. We have been incredibly busy, what with the drought and climate change issues and Coalition work. We hope you have been able to stay in touch via the blogsites. A major computer crash disappeared your contact details until earlier today when we were able to reload a list that is a little shorter than it was, but most of you are still there. If you know of someone who was on the Coalition list, please ask them if they received this and, if not, ask them to register again, please.

Happy Anniversary!

Last month we passed our first year as an organization. At the end of this newsletter is an Activity Report which touches briefly on the work of the Convenors, the Advisory Council, and Members.

We’ve come a long way from where we were a year ago. For most of the time since February 2006, we have been dismissed as lunatic fringe dwellers pushing an impossible dream and creating unreal expectations among landholders. All that has changed…

Soil Carbon Credits on the radar
≈
• This week – only 3 days ago – the Carbon Coalition presented the soil carbon case to a press conference at Parliament House in Sydney, the event organised by the NSW National Party to launch its soil carbon trading policy. The Coalition provided the substance for that policy. The NSW Nats are the first political party to adopt the Coalition’s position.

• Two days ago the NSW Farmers’ Association passed a motion that commits it to seeking incentives for curbing emissions. Earlier in the NSW Election campaign President Jock Laurie called for a carbon trading scheme for soils. The Coalition has briefed Jock several times in the past 12 months, and also briefed the Wellington Branch members who originally took the motion to the State Conference.

• In the previous month, Australian of the Year Tim Flannery made a statement supporting the soil carbon trading concept after receiving briefing material from the Coalition via another Coalition – Patrice Newell’s Climate Change Coalition, which is standing 21 candidates for the NSW Upper House.

• Carbon Coalition Convenor Michael Kiely and CC Member Bruce Ward are standing for the CCC as a platform to promote Carbon Farming and Soil Carbon Trading. Tim Flannery has endorsed the CCC and greeted the founding of the Carbon Coalition with a public endorsement back a year ago.

• Also in February, the NSW Commissioner for Natural Resources John Williams came out in favour of soil carbon credits at $25/tonne. The Coalition has made another friend.

• More recently, the Federal Shadow Minister for the Environment Peter Garret said: “Why did Campbell hate you?” when the Convenors introduced themselves at Rockhampton Airport last Saturday, after delivering a 4 hour seminar on carbon trading to an RCS gathering in Yeppoon. Mr Garrett indicated he read our blogsite regularly. “I keep up with your stuff…” (Campbell was the former Federal Minister for the Environment, Senator Ian Campbell, who refused to meet with us and fobbed us off with meaningless letters stating implacable resistance to carbon trading. We blogged his demise only two days before the Garrett meeting.) We also met Kevin Rudd at the same time and registered the Coalition with him.

• Rod Rush put together a brilliant briefing paper to present to the Federal Minister for Agriculture, then the climate sceptic Ian MacFarlane (which was ignored and dismissed.) Rod’s work was so useful we were able to use it as the Coalition’s submission to the National Emissions Trading Scheme enquiry. Thanks Rod. (The Coalition’s 2 submissions were the only ones dealing with agricultural issues.)

• Late last year, in December, Bruce Ward and Tony Lovell arranged for the Coalition to present its argument to the NSW Premier’s Advisory Panel of Climate Change. Many opportunities have arisen as a result.

• Earlier, in November, at Christine Jones’ Carbon Forum in the ACT we were able to present the Coalition’s position to MP for New England Tony Windsor who subsequently asked the Prime Minister a question in Parliament which flushed the PM out on carbon markets.

So, important people are now talking about soil carbon credits. Thank you to everyone who opened doors for us: Mark Roberts, Hamish Munro, Christine Jones, Rod Rush, Maartin Stapper, all the good folk at the Central West CMA, John Lawrie, Tom Gavel, Col Seis, David Marsh, Angus Maurice, Rick Maurice, Jane Wilson, John Muller, John Williams, Bruce Ward, Tony Lovell, Tom Green, and all the people who invited us to speak at gatherings across the nation. (Many names have been missed here. Apologies.) A special thank you should go to Rhonda Willson for a large donation towards Christine Jones’s research into the measurement issue.

'NEVER DOUBT THAT A SMALL GROUP OF THOUGHTFUL, COMMITTED CITIZENS CAN CHANGE THE WORLD; INDEED, IT'S THE ONLY THING THAT EVER HAS.'”
Margaret Mead

SOIL CARBON CAN BE MEASURED FOR TRADING

The Holy Grail… Measurement

So we had two goals: 1. Establish the soil carbon market. 2. Gain access to the top value market. The biggest barrier is to be found with the scientists. Conventional wisdom says soil carbon is too “slippery” – or subject to flux – to measure definitively. We despaired recently when speaking to one of the leading soil scientists and he told us that the more they studied soil carbon the harder and more difficult it is to pin down. Remember this: in any conversation about measuring Soil C for trading, if you hear the word “accuracy” it spells doom. Based on a paper by Dr Brian Kimble of the US Dept of Ag, we advocate moving in the opposite direction: away from precision and towards practicality. (A short section of Dr Kimble’s paper is attached to this email.)

‘Remember this: in any conversation
about measuring Soil C for trading,
if you hear the word
“accuracy” it spells doom.’

We know of at least 4 or 5 trials that are underway to prove up MMV systems (Measurement, Monitoring, Verification). We wish them the best because we need a system, and we will rejoice the moment IPART (Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal) approves a system.

The Coalition (including several leading ‘carbon farmers’) will be attending a ‘summit’ with a group of prominent soil scientists on 22 March, 2007 in Dubbo. The Coalition will be seeking a practical solution and hopes this meeting is a watershed in the journey towards full value/direct measurement soil carbon trading.

CCX order for 25000 acres

While we were in the USA in October, we managed to secure the first order for Australian till to no till soil. The only technical detail we needed to fulfil was to provide “peer reviewed data” that validated the 0.5t/acre/year rule of thumb US farmers were trading under. While this sounds like an easy task, we ran into a wall of costs and confusion. We need to be able to pay for a scientist to extract the necessary data from the Australian Greenhouse Office data sets.

The Coalition has no financial resources (especially after funding the USA trip and most speaking engagements to date). So we will be embarking on a fundraising campaign to overcome this frustrating blockage. This issue will also be raised during our ‘summit’ with the soil scientists.

Soil scientists can save the world

This is the title for a new blogsite: http://soilsscientistscansavetheworld.blogspot.com/

It appeals to soil scientists to help solve the greenhouse gas emissions overload problem by contributing to a practical measurement solution. We are hoping to use every means to engage soil scientists to broaden their paradigm and help us develop a means for trading.

A major breakthrough

The biggest blockage to our progress is the officially-sanctioned myth about Australian soils that surfaced in the Australian Greenhouse Office and has since been promoted by the Australian Farm Institute. The AGO states: "Typically Australian soils have a poor capacity to store large quantities of carbon." This generalisation was based on the data sets developed over 10 years for the Carbon Accounting scheme.

Executive Director of the Farm Institute, Mick Keough, elaborated on the myth: “The bulk of Australian farms may not operate as carbon sinks, due to the age of the soils." This myth is promoted by the Institute in the form of papers by John Carter, MSc., former AGO scientist and currently Principal Scientist, OLD Department of Natural Resources and Water.

The myth carries the weight of science because it is based on ‘the data’. But if ‘the data’ was so reliable, why has the NSWDPI launched a set of trials to test soil carbon performance under various pasture management approaches in the last month?

Answer: There are gaps in the data sets. Gaps so big you could drive a carbon trading scheme through them. Working through the AGO Technical Reports, we noticed that what the data covered was largely business as usual land management – which we know is carbon depleting. There was little, if any evidence of ‘carbon farming’ techniques being included in the studies. This is understandable. Regenerative (soil C promoting) techniques were less familiar 10 years ago, and in all the Technical Reports, the scientists complained that they were constrained by time and resources from filling gaps in their data sets.

This is a major breakthrough for the Coalition.

The AGO is not aware of this deficiency in the data upon which public statements have been based. In the Coalition’s position paper, Rod Rush reports: “At the wind-up sessions of the Australian Greenhouse Office (AGO) in the middle of 2006 the CSIRO Land & Water project leader on soil carbon stated that it just was not possible to sequester carbon in soils at the rate necessary for it to be of advantage as a part solution to the problems of global warming. However, when the practices of “regenerative” agriculture were explained to him, and later to his successor, they expressed surprise and interest in conducting research into the contention that soil carbon levels can be raised, and raised quickly. There is currently no funding available for this project and to succeed in raising the required funds, years of prejudice have to be overcome.”

Coalition opens the Carbon Trading Register

The books are open for landholders to register their soils for soil carbon trading. The Carbon Coalition has several initiatives currently underway to generate demand for Australian Farm Soil Credits. A form will be posted on the website (www.carboncoalition.com.au) shortly. Please encourage your contacts to register. The more numbers we have a landholders demanding to be given access to trading, the more ‘weight’ we will carry in our battle with myths and prejudice. And the more likely we will attract support from buyers.

You can register two levels of involvement:

1. Growers who have soils on which land management has changed since 1990 (the baseline date used under the Kyoto Protocol):

• from till to no till cropping
• from cropping to pasture
• from set stocking to grazing management

2. Aggregators who can organise groups of growers into pools for trading purposes.


Creating demand for Australian Farm Soil Credits

The Convenors of the Carbon Coalition have launched two initiatives to generate orders for Australian Farm Soil Credits:

1. CarbonCreditedBrands: a service for corporates that guides them through the process of becoming carbon neutral and brings their customers, staff, suppliers, etc. with them on the journey. After the company’s emissions have been audited and all efforts made to bring them down by power savings, etc., the company chooses ‘abatements’ or ‘offsets’ (credits). The range of options includes Australian Farm Soil Credits.

2. Adopt A Farmer Fighting Greenhouse: a retail enterprise selling Australian Farm Soil Credits on the “voluntary” market for abatements. This is the fastest growing market overseas. “Voluntary” means the credits cannot be used to meet mandatory caps. They are chosen largely by consumers to offset their lifestyle emissions and by companies seeking to make a contribution to the battle against climate change. Voluntary Credits are usually bundled. Ours include Provisional Carbon Credits, a contribution to environmental restoration on farmland, and a contribution to the work of the Carbon Coalition in spreading the soil carbon message far and wide. Soil Credits offer the buyer unique benefits.

The first orders for both offerings have been received during a test marketing phase.

We hope to reduce the leakage of value to middlemen by offering growers the opportunity to have a share in the trading company.

But how will you measure it?

A ‘voluntary’ market product is often bundled with a donation to a cause. The precision required to sell a bare tonne of carbon is not required by the buyer. The AUSTRALIAN FARM SOIL CREDIT is based on the following indicators:

1. The history of soil management for the plot in question.
2. The history of soil management for the entire property.
3. The training record of the land manager.
4. The land management techniques used on the entire property.
5. The imputed increase in soil carbon in the plot in question over the period since the change in land management.
6. Membership of Carbon•Farmers™, a group of conservation land managers who are also actively working to restore the natural resource base.

AUSTRALIAN FARM SOIL CREDITS are Provisional Carbon Credits. They are set at a very conservative rate of 2 tonne per hectare where land management has changed since 1990 (the baseline date used under the Kyoto Protocol):

• from till to no till cropping
• from cropping to pasture
• from set stocking to grazing management

Each category represents an amount of greenhouse gas emissions not released, as well as an amount of soil carbon stored.

These categories are based on estimates published by the Australian Greenhouse Office: "The review clearly indicated that the introduction of a cropping phase into uncleared land or a well-established pasture with high plant biomass, reduced soil carbon density by 10 to 30 t/ha in soils to 30 cm depth... Likely changes in soil carbon densities associated with changes in soil tillage practices are of the order of 5 to 10 t/ha when they occur..." (National Carbon Accounting System, Technical Report No. 43, January 2005.) Our estimates are also informed by K.Y. Chan’s work on soil carbon levels under different land management methods in NSW which revealed that soil carbon levels were 2 to 2.7 times higher in pasture soil than in cropped soils, and significantly higher in minimum till than in conventional tillage soils. (Chan, K.Y. “Soil particulate organic carbon under different land use and management,” Soil Use and Management (2001) 17, 217-221.) Eminent soil C expert Professor Rattan Lal says: “Conversion from conventional till to no-till farming reduces emission by 30 to 35 kg C/ha per season. (“Soil Carbon Sequestration Impacts on Global Climate Change and Food Security,” Science, Vol 304, 11 June, 2004)

Once the science catches up, the surface area will be rescaled to meet the amount 'measured' in the soil below. Provisional Carbon Credits allows the Soil Storage of CO2 to start.

Initiative: Social-C-Central

Soil-C-Central is a MegaWeb site dedicated to Soil Carbon. It aims to provide landholders and those who advise them a central source of information about Soil C.

Its content will include: news; upcoming events, conferences and courses; new research findings and papers; new research studies and timetables for results; new websites; and new newsletters and publications.

The Soil C Library: will include Bibliographies - lists of publications; Academic papers; Articles; Interviews; Links; Websites; and Blogs.

A Soil-C-Community will be encouraged as a place where scientists, agronomists, and landholders and anyone interested can swap information and discuss issues. It might include Profiles of Members (voluntary); Notice Boards; Chat room; Online events; “Webinars”; etc.

This promises to be a great addition to the Coalition’s work, but there’s a cath… it will cost money.

Do you support the work of the Carbon Coalition?

The work of the Carbon Coalition has been entirely voluntary for the past year.

The Convenors have funded:

• lobbying,
• outreach,
• speaking engagements,
• website activity,
• blogging,
• research,
• overseas study tour,
• attending conferences to make contacts,
• appearing before official enquiries…

Please see the attached activity sheet. The time involved has grown to consume time previously devoted to income-producing activity.

We believe the mission of the Coalition is too important to wind down at this important point. The challenges landholders have coming up include:

1. Being fobbed off with Federal Government Stewardship Payments instead of carbon credits. These are a poor substitute for three reasons: i. it puts you in the hands of the public servants; ii. They could never be as lucrative; iii. They represent handouts, not payments for produce. We believe the Howard Government is implacably opposed to soil carbon credits. (Leopards don’t change their spots.)
2. Missing out on offsets when on-farm emissions are measured/estimated and landholders are required to buy credits to offset CO2, methane, nitrous oxide etc.
3. Put an end to the myth about Australian soils and carbon.
4. Force the hand of the regulators (IPART) by forming markets.
5. Promote the notion of Carbon Farming among business as usual growers.
6. Maintain pressure for Australia to join Kyoto.
7. Protect landholders from exploitation by unsympathetic middlemen and opportunists.
8. Teaching landholders about the carbon trading markets.

We need your help…

We need your help to achieve the goals of the Coalition:

• Making the family farm more viable
• Strengthening rural communities
• Restoring the ecological health of farmland
• Reducing the extremes of Climate Change

What we need resources for…

• Website development
• Membership database system
• Publicity
• Management
• Lobbying
• Research
• Conferences
• Subscriptions
• Travel/Acc

There is so much more we can do… getting Members involved in our activities is FIRST AND FOREMOST… but it takes time and time is always short when you’re short of money.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

There are many ways you can help:

• You can send a cheque to the Carbon Coalition Against Global Warming C/- MB & AL Kiely, “Uamby”, Uamby Road, GOOLMA NSW 2852

• You will find a “Donate” button on the blogsite (http://carboncoalitionoz.blogspot.com), the website (www.carboncoalition.com.au) and on the other blogsites.

• You can buy Australian Farm Soil Credits from http://carbonfarmers.blogspot.com

• You can engage CarbonCreditedBrands by visiting http://carboncreditedhowto.blogspot.com

Your contribution is an investment in the greatest opportunity to solve the problems of declining land health, declining economic health, and declining personal health in agriculture.

Thank you for being part of this historic moment.


Michael, Louisa & Daniel Kiely
Convenors

PS. Please pass this email letter on to others you may know who would be interested.

NB. YOUR TAX DEDUCTION: While we cannot offer tax deductibility as a CHARITY, we can arrange a deduction for you by the following means: 1. You make your contribution. 2. The Coalition invoices you for CARBON ADVISORY SERVICES (which is a legitimate part of our activities) and your receipt can be used for deduction.







Carbon Coalition Against Global Warming
Activity Report
February 2006-February 2007

February, 2006 - Launched Carbon Coalition at Central West Conservation Farmers’ Association conference.

Established blog site carboncoalitionoz.blogspot.com – posted 127 reports in 365 days

Established web site – carboncoalition.com.au – collected 600 email contacts in 12 months

April, 2006 - Recruited Coalition Council members as advisory board: David Marsh, Rick Maurice, Col Seis, Angus Maurice.

Reguler press releases to national and rural media. Interviews with media.

April, 2006 - Gain support from Tim Flannery, Author, The Weather Makers

Add extensive “Library” of scientific papers and links to website and blogsite.

26 May, 2006 – Form alliance with Peter Andrews, Natural Sequence Farming

27 May, 2006 - Make presentation at Manning Landcare event, Gloucester NSW

2 June, 2006 - Brief NSW Farmers’ Association, Jock Laurie and David Ayrs, Sydney NSW

Write “Open Letter to Soil Scientists” for Australian Farm Journal

5 July, 2006 – Brief Central West delegation to NSW Farmers’ Association Conference, Wellington NSW

14 July, 2006 – Presentation for CWCMA at Mudgee Small Farm Field Day

19 July, 2006 – Make presentation to Baradine Landcare Group, Baradine, NSW

July, 2006 - Make presentation to Land Management Workshop, Cobar Field Day

15 August, 2006 - Brief National Farmers’ Federation, David Crombie and Dr Vanessa Findlay, Canberra ACT

2 September, 2006 – Make presentation to Gulgong Anglican Church Men’s Meeting, Gulgong NSW

USA 3 week fact finding mission
18/19 September: Washington DC – attend 2006 Global CO2 Cap-And-Trade Forum
21/22 September: Bozeman, Montana - Big Sky Carbon Sequestration Partnership Phase 2 Project Management Plan Workshop
25 September: College Station, Texas - Professor Bruce McCarl, Department of Agricultural Economics, Texas A&M University
27 September: Albuquerque, New Mexico - Peter Holter, Holistic Management International
28 September: Albuquerque, New Mexico - Southwest Carbon Sequestration Partnership Phase 2 Project Management Plan Workshop
29 September: Swanton, Vermont - Address Farmers' gathering organised by Coalition member Abe Collins from Vermont.
1 October: Columbus, Ohio - Professor Rattan Lal (or colleague), Ohio State University
3 October: Chicago, Illinois – Mike Walsh, SVP, Chicago Climate Exchange

Susan Capalbo, Director, Big Sky Carbon Sequestration Partnership.
Pamela Tomski is Associate Director responsible for outreach and education, Big Sky Carbon Sequestration Partnership.
Dave Brown, Technical Lead, Terrestrial Sequestration with Big Sky.
Michael Bowman, Director, 25:25, a movement that aims to have 25% of America's fuel needs supplied by farmers in 25 years.
Ted Dodge, Director, National Carbon Offsets Coalition which brokered the first carbon credits paid to US farmers In Montana and Kansas.
Professor Bruce McCarl of Texas A&M University, climate economist on the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change.
Dr Rattan Lal, author of a small library of books and papers, co-author of many others, Professor of Soil Physics at the School of Natural Resources at Ohio State University, Columbus Ohio.
Dr Klause Lorenz, Senior Research Fellow, the School of Natural Resources at Ohio State University, Columbus Ohio.

Launched Carbon Coalition in USA - Abe Collins, Carbon Farmer and Convenor, Swanton, Vermont.

Attended and addressed 2 day Phase 2 Workshop in Albuqurque, New Mexico of the Southwest Regional Partnership.
Met with Head of Partnership, Dr Brian McPherson, from the New Mexico Institute of Technology in Socorro.
Met with Dr Joel Brown and Dr Jay Angerer, the 'soil carbon sequestration' experts with the Southwest Partnership.
Met with Peter Holter, Holistic Management International.

Secured first order for 25,000 acres Australian soil (till to no till) from CCX.

23 October, 2006 – Make presentation to Kingaroy Carbon Forum, Kingaroy QLD

Submission to Commonwealth Minister for Environment, Sen. Ian Campbell via Parliamentary Secretary Greg Hunt, MP.

Coordinated 8-farm application for CWCMA Round 5 funding for carbon farming soil trials.

4 November, 2006 - Attended the “WALK AGAINST WARMING”, the International Day of Action on Climate Change on Saturday, Sydney NSW

4 November, 2006 - Briefed Federal Shadow Minister for Environment, Anthony Albanese MP

13 November, 2006 – meet with NSW President Soil Science Society re peer reviewed data for CCX and Summit of scientists and Practitioners

25 November, 2006 – Make presentation to Cobar/Nyngan Landcare group

11 December, 2006 – attend National Emissions Trading Summit, Sydney NSW

29 December, 2006 - Submissions (2) to National Emissions Trading Scheme Inquiry, Sydney NSW

Second Submission to Commonwealth Minister for Environment, Sen. Ian Campbell

22/23 November, 2006 - Speak at 2006 National Carbon Forum Canberra ACT

Organising Summit between Soil Scientists and Practitioners (March 2007)

Briefed Tony Windsor, MP, Canberra ACT (subsequently asks PM a question in Parliament)

13 December, 2006 - Briefed NSW Premier’s Advisory Panel on Climate Change, Sydney NSW

19 December, 2006 - Briefed NSW Farmers’ Asociation’s Jock Laurie. Subsequently calls for soil carbon credits.

Briefed NSW National Party MPs responsible for natural resources management election platform, Sydney NSW

Stand for NSW Legislative Council elections for Climate Change Coalition as soil carbon advocate.

Presented at Managing Under Changed Climactic Conditions Conference, Bathurst NSW

9 February, 2007 - Address South Australian No Till Farmers’ Association, Tanunda, SA

13 February, 2007 – Met with Peter Holter and Judy Earl, Holistic Management International

14 February, 2007 - Briefed NSW Department of Primary Industries Farm Management Climate Change Risk Management Steering Committee, Orange NSW

Carbon Coalition Blogsites

• Carbon Coalition Against Global Warming

http://carboncoalitionoz.blogspot.com/

The best way to combat Global Warming short term is to reward farmers for cultivating deep-rooted perennial grass species and crops that can lock up vast amounts of carbon in the soil.

• Carbon Credits Government Watch

http://carboncreditsgovernmentwatch.blogspot.com/

A shift in the Bush Administration's attitude to Carbon Credits is the key to the Australian farmers getting access to carbon credits for carbon sequestered in agricultural soils. As the pressure builds on President Bush, so the possibility of soil carbon credits comes closer to reality for Australian farmers. And with it, the possibility of regenerating our natural resources and saving the nation billions of dollars.

• FAQ Soil Carbon

http://faqsoilcarbon.blogspot.com/

Basic facts and frequently asked questions about carbon in soil, soil carbon sequestration and carbon credits

• Buy Carbon Credits from Carbon•Farmers

http://carbonfarmers.blogspot.com/

Soil Carbon Credits are the only weapon the world has to defeat Global Warming. Only soil can do the job. Soil Carbon Credits encourage "Carbon•Farmers" to farm for maximum Carbon lockdown. Carbon•Farming is in harmony with nature. An Australian Farm Soil Credit from a Carbon•Farmer is so much more than a carbon credit.

• Diary of a Carbon Farmer

http://envirofarming.blogspot.com/

This is the diary of an Australian family who escaped from the city, joined a farming community, and learned to love soil. Carbon Farming is about growing soil carbon - the first link in our food chain. The topsoil is where God's creation is taking place, at every moment. Carbon is the building block of life. By growing it we can restore ecosystems to health. At the same time we can remove Carbon Dioxide from the atmosphere and store it as Carbon in the soil.

• Soil Scientists Can Save The World

http://soilsscientistscansavetheworld.blogspot.com/

How soils and the scientists who study them are the key to meeting the challenge of Climate Change and reversing environmental degradation over most of the Earth's surface.

• Soil Carbon Submission

http://soilcarbonsubmission.blogspot.com/

NATIONAL EMISSIONS TRADING TASKFORCE - Submission written by Rod Rush on behalf of the Carbon Coalition Against Global Warming. A Response to the Discussion Paper on a Possible Design for a National Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme

• Forests kill communities

http://forestskillcommunities.blogspot.com/

Plantation tree farms - misnamed "forests" - are sucking the life out of rural communities and devastating local economies while damaging the biological communities they invade and robbing wildlife of habitat. Tax- and carbon credit-driven schemes for making city investors rich are threatening to create ghost towns in diversity deserts.

• John Howard On Carbon Credits

http://howardoncredits.blogspot.com/

This speech appears here in full until we can produce an edited version. It is valuable because it gives the reader an insight into the Prime Minister's strategy and could provide clues to achieving the Carbon Coalition's Vision by means other than a frontal attack on an immoveable object.

SOIL CARBON CAN BE MEASURED FOR TRADING
The Case for Averaging Soil C Sample Values to Enable Trading

Flux and soil variability are commonly used by opponents to trading in soil carbon. But one important US scientist argues for sanity to prevail: "It is often pointed out that soils have a large amount of variability, but with knowledge of soil sciences and landscapes, variability can be described and sampling protocols can be developed to deal with this," writes Dr John Kimble in a paper published this year*. "One reason I feel people say that soils vary and SOC cannot be measured is that we soil scientists focus on showing variability, not on showing what we know about the variability. In soils we can go to a 100m2 field and sample every square meter and look at the differences we find. But if you sample every tree in a large area you would see a similar variability." Dr Kimble works for the US Department of Agriculture, National Resources Conservation Service, National Soil Survey Centre, Lincoln, Nebraska. "We too often focus on this [variability], worry about laboratory precision and field variation and do not look at the real world where most things are based on averages and estimated data. We tend to focus on finding variation and not on using our knowledge of soil science to describe what we know. All systems vary, but in soils we focus on a level of precision and accuracy that may not have any relevance to the real world because we can take so many samples and look at the variation."

*Kimble, J., "Advances In Models To Measure Soil Carbon: Can Soil Carbon Really Be Measured?", in Lal, R., Cerri, C., Bernoux, M., Etchevers, J., and Cerri, E., eds., Carbon Sequestration in Soils in Latin America, Food Products Press, Birmingham, NY, 2006

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

Senator Campbell "BONED": it could be his nick name

The day the Stern Report was released, Senator Ian Campbell tried to laugh it off by flippantly referring to SIr Nicholas Stern as "Nick", "Old Nick" and other references that were aimed at trivialising his message and reducing the gravity of his warning by reducing his standing as an economist. Stern's was not the first dire warning by an eminent ecconomist, but it carried weight because of who Stern was and is. And the Howard Government sent a minor actor to shut him down. Sir Nicholas Stern was the Chief Economist and Senior Vice-President of the World Bank from 2000 to 2003, and is now the chief government economic advisor in the United Kingdom. Senator Campbell is a backbencher in a government that is proving itself wrong for the times in every way it possibly can."Old Nick's inclined to make dire predictions" was the tenor of the Senator's remarks. Howard's team of climate change deniers use the Bush Administration's playbook to denigrate scientific and expert reports. President 29% Approval once dismissed a key US Government EPA report, that the Administration failed to intercept and rewrite as they did with others, as 'just soemthing done by bureaucrats'. Senator Ian Campbell has written several times to the Coalition in response to our appeals for a hearing on the soil carbon issue. We didn't get to 'nick name' status.

PS> "Boned" was the Sunday Telegraph's headline today. Strangely, that News Limited paper still features regular columns by climate sceptics. Very democratic.

A BIG THANK YOU To THE SCIENTISTS WHO STOOD UP TO BE COUNTED

"Pastures can support rich growth of carbon credits," says the headline on the University of New England "NEWS" site (http://www.une.edu.au/news/archives/000710.html)

Then came the welcome news: "University of New England researchers have backed calls from the NSW Farmers Association for the introduction of a carbon credit trading scheme." The scientist 'outing' himself in this instance is Dr Wal Whalley, an Honorary Fellow in Botany at UNE. But even this was going a bit too far, and he qualified it with the old scientists' chestnut: "... scientific and economic know-how is not quite ready for the widespread use of such a scheme." Won't he get a surprise when we start trading next week without all that scientific palaver?

He says: "more work is needed on the details of measuring and trading these offsets to carbon emissions for the benefit of farmers." This in effect means nothing will ever happen. Why?
Because the more they learn about soil carbon the harder it becomes to pin it down scientifically. (The latest news from the laboratory comes to us via a senior soil scientist in the DNR who played a key role in the AGO work.) We know it's there. We just can't say how much right at this moment. It's a question of flux. Soil C is mercurial. It dances in and out. But we know there's lots there. And we also know a lot of other things about it, such as what the ground cover looks like, what the soil smells like, how it reacts to large downfalls of rain, and to no rain, what the bug life is like in the first 10 cms, what the general biodiversity situaiton is like, etc.

The Carbon Coalition says hair-splitting scientific accuracy is not required. What we need is a simple basis for trade - an agreement between two people as to what something is worth.

"It amazes me that we are still at this kindergarten stage with the science. Trying to find more accurate ways to measure is not the path to success," says Michael Kiely, Convenor of the Coalition. "The answer lies in estimates and indicators and averaging such as is done with everything else. Read the AGO's technical reports upon which all generalisations about Australian soils are based. They are full of surmises and estimations to bridge knowledge gaps."

Dr. Whalley was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) on Australia Day this year for his work on native grasses and grassland ecology. He says it is a "myth" that carbon credit trading schemes merely involve the "locking up" of forests. "Grasslands – and using grasslands for grazing – can provide more effective soil carbon storage than trees, as grasses have small, fibrous roots and quickly put carbon back into the soil," he said. "Through modern methods of grazing management and/or pasture cropping you can quickly increase the amount of organic matter in the soil. This is good for the grazing animals, the pasture and the soil."

"If the carbon credit trading scheme devised is simply with trees," he explained, "the science is easier because the estimation of the amount of carbon tied up in forests per year is relatively easy and commonly accepted. We don't know much about the measurement and forms of carbon increases in soils and grasslands, but our vast pastures and grasslands can probably lock up much more carbon than all our forests or plantations."

"Without standardised measurements of carbon increases, a widespread carbon credit trading scheme cannot exist, as there wouldn't be a fair way to work out the compensation amount*. I hope that research will yield results within the next few years." Can the world wait that long? Stern says we have 9 years, and many others agree with him. The polar bears. Keep your mind on the job. Their Arctic home is melting at 3 times the rate the experts thought. A lot of people care about polar bears.

In the same report we have news of further delaying tactics. One of Wal's colleagues "said that the other area in need of considerable research was an understanding of the nature of offsets, the potential products, and how to value and trade them across markets." When you see the words "considerable research' read "lots of time and money". Gentlemen, the enemy is at the city walls.

Markets do not need research studies or governments to tell them how to form. Free enterprise is just that. Two parties doing a deal. All that is needed is sufficient information to satisfy the buyer. Capitalism. Transactions based on perceived value.

"There is not a clear understanding as to exactly how these contracts would be entered into." Piffle. The market for the commodity already exists. This product would sit alongside them. And they would find their place by trial and error. There is scope for 'gourmet' bundles for the voluntary market. There is a world wide shortage of tradable carbon. Everyone in the business knows that. You have to get down off your camel to find these things out, though.

Well done, Wal. You supported us during the dark days. Now get down off that camel and help us make a market.

FOOTNOTE; *For those of you actively applying your minds to this conundrum, there is a line of enquiry you can follow that has yet to be exhausted. For what purpose do people buy carbon credits? There are many uses. But one of them is not to speculate in their value increasing, as you would with shares. (Who decides the value of shares and how?) In many cases it is to offset emissions which themselves are a vague estimation. EG> The methodology (widely used) put forward by the World Resources Institute enables the auditor to estimate the annual power usage of an office-based business by a formula based on floorspace. I don't get it. We've got to be 150% accurate with soil carbon but not with that end of the transaction process that decides how much soil carbon you need to buy to do the job. I don't get it. When I hear that a major energy company applies a margin of error to its estimates of fugitive emissions (go and look it up) of between -50% and +100% in order to operate in the real world, I can't help thinking there is a conspiracy against soil carbon. First among the soil carbon sceptics (we will never let them forget it) and then among the believers who cursed us with best wishes in the search for an accurate solution. But back to the speculation about motivation for buying carbon credits. Polar bears is one reason.

PS> UNE PRO Jim Scanlon wrote the original report that I have liberally plundered for this post. Thanks Jim.

Tim Flannery supports soil carbon credits

ABC TV LANDLINE
Interview with Professor Tim Flannery
Reporter: Sally Sara
First Published: 11/02/2007

SALLY SARA: we've had a lot of talk in the past week about carbon trading, what sort of opportunities do you see there for farmers in Australia?



PROFESSOR TIM FLANNERY: Carbon trading represents one of the great opportunities for farmers in Australia. But what we really need in order to maximise that opportunity is some good government policy. We also need a proper accounting system for carbon. One of the great opportunities in Australia is sequestering or storing carbon in the soil, and unfortunately that carbon is not so readily visible and measurable. It would be a great help if the Federal Government put some effort into trying to develop a proper accountable scheme for measuring that carbon so we could take an opportunity for trade, because without that accountability no-one's going to pay to have their carbon sequestered.



SALLY SARA: Using the bush for carbon credits, does that mean locking up land? Some people fear that’s what it will mean.



PROFESSOR TIM FLANNERY: Not at all. What it means is a creation of a carbon bank on your farm, and that carbon bank may be in the soil. You may decide to sequester it through better management practice that enhances the fertility of your soil and the carbon that is locked up within it. You may decide to grow perennial vegetation rather than annual grasses that again sequester carbon in the longer term. But as the land owner you're in charge of that carbon bank and if you decide you want to fell some trees and sell the timber, that's fine you can do that but there will be less money in your carbon bank.



SALLY SARA: How do you go about storing the carbon underground?



PROFESSOR TIM FLANNERY: There's a number of ways that this can be done but essentially it's all to do with good management of your soil. If you're practising zero till or something like that where you're not disturbing the soil and now allowing any oxygen in get in to release the carbon, you’re storing carbon in the soil. Having deep-rooted plants helps restore carbon in the soil. If you're dealing with a forested situation, the leaf fall and then rots away again stores carbon in the soil. There is a number of ways of doing this, but the big problem is quantifying that. If I'm someone who wants to sequester my carbon in your soil, I want to know how much is being sequestered per hectare before I pay, and we need some basic research work done around that to enable us to quantify that and to make the whole system fully accountable, and that really is a role for Government.



SALLY SARA: Could that be a serious mainstream industry or part of industry?



PROFESSOR TIM FLANNERY: I think it will be a major industry world wide in future and whoever has access to broad acres will be very advantaged in that. The broad figures are that we can store enough carbon in the living biosphere, particularly in the tropics of our planet, to offset all of the carbon emissions since the beginning of the industrial revolution. So that's a significant opportunity. It's very clear that we already have too much carbon in the air for climate stability, so I think in the future people will be looking increasingly to carbon storage in the biosphere and in our soils in order to deal with this emerging problem.



SALLY SARA: Professor Tim Flannery and Australian of the Year, thank you very much for joining us on Landline.



PROFESSOR TIM FLANNERY: Thank you.

The Soil C Data Gap?

Why is the NSW DPI is conducting studies of soil carbon take up by soils under a range of pasture management practices? Why is the $246,000 project now seeking farmers who have paddocks with a known history suitable for inclusion in the study? We have a complete suite of Australian Greenhouse Office Technical Reports covering soil carbon uptake under different land management practices. Why are there several trials underway in different states, testing different combinations? The Australian Greenhouse Office is on record as saying: "Typically Australian soils have a poor capacity to store large quantities of carbon." Watch the word "typically".

NSW Farmers' ask the right question

NSW Farmers’ Association President Jock Laurie says the environment is shaping up to be the leading issue for the 2007 State Election and voters must know where the two major parties stand on carbon trading.

“The Association is calling on the Government to establish a carbon market that rewards farmers for using cropping, grazing and vegetation management practices that enhance carbon storage,” Mr Laurie said.

“Farmers can help Australia by storing carbon on their land, essentially pulling carbon from the atmosphere and storing carbon in the soil and in vegetation,” Mr Laurie said.

“Agriculture is the only sector to have made a significant contribution to reducing Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions, with more than 40% reductions from 1990 levels. We would like to see the entire community support these and further reductions,” Mr Laurie said.

“We are calling for a carbon trading scheme with rules that encourage the major greenhouse polluters to purchase carbon credits from farmers. We want to see soil carbon included as a tradable carbon store at state, national and international levels,” Mr Laurie said.

"What everybody knows"

"A new idea is first condemned as ridiculous, and then dismissed as trivial until it finally becomes what everybody knows." So said William James.

Soil Carbon Credits is quickly becoming what everybody knows. The subject started as the private obsession of a few fringe lunatics, including Dr Christine Jones ("The Carbon Goddess") and John Lawrie (Soils Officer with the Central West Catchment Management Authority). They infected a small group of"carbon farmers" in the central west who launched the Carbon Coalition Against Global Warming and published The Soil Carbon Manifesto in February 2006.

The Manifesto stated:

Carbon Coalition is a group of concerned Australians who believe the globe is facing a crisis of CO2 overload leading to Global Warming and that one of the most effective strategies for locking up carbon in our atmosphere is to be found in fostering deep-rooted plant species on land used for agriculture.

We urge governments and the business community to acknowledge the role that agricultural soils can play in addressing the Global Warming crisis. Farmers can play a central role in sequestering carbon in their soils by fostering deep-rooted perennial plant species that have significant biomass in their root systems.

Soil biomass is a natural carbon sink and should be used to create carbon credits which can be traded alongside those currently traded for forests.

That was 12 months ago. Despite being ignored by the media and treated with suspicion by many - and large1y shunned by the scientific community - the cracks are appearing in the walls of Jerico:

The Cracks:

1. John Williams, Commissioner for Natural Resources in NSW, announces on ABC TV NSW Statewide (9/2/07) - see transcript on ABC site - that farmers should be paid $25/tonne for soil carbon.

2. After two separate breifing sessions with the C arbon CVoalition, 6 months apart, Jock Laurie (NSW Farmers) calls for the same thing on the same program. (These are the first public statements in support of our position.)

3. The Conservation Agriculture Association of Australia and NZ (covering all the no tillfarmers' associations) have been invited to sign an MOU with wholesaler/retailer Carbon Planet by their South Australian members.

4. The NSW CMAs plan to become soil carbon pool managers and brokers. It turns out the NSW DPI has been studying the potential since September 2006. (See point 2 under "NSW Government invests $2.5million in climate research" (21 September 2006) at http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/aboutus/news/recent-news/agriculture-news-releases/

5. Landcare signed a deal with Carbon Traders to broker remnant vegetation on farms, and this will naturally morph into a soil carbon relationship.

6. The Carbon Coalition was consulted by Andrew Fraser, NSW National MP, shadow minister for forests etc. re soil carbon and he indicated his party would be taking it into the election as party platform.

7. The federal government is taking the time to attack us. (Always a good sign)

8. There is a race on between up to 10 project groups trying to crack the secret to measurement/monitoring/verification of soil C for trading.

9. The NSW DPI announced a $246,000 study of the role of pastures in locking up carbon under a range of management practices in central and southern NSW.

We have come a long way in 12 months, but we still have a long way to go.

A big thank you to all those people in positions of influence who stuck their necks out for a fair go for soil carbon credits. It's too early to identify you. You know who you are.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CARBON COALITION

Carbon Coalition Against Global Warming
Activity Report
February 2006-February 2007

The following represents our attempts to put soil carbon credits on the naitonal agenda and protect the interests of farmers:

February, 2006 - Launched Carbon Coalition at Central West Conservation Farmers’ Association conference.

Established blog site carboncoalitionoz.blogspot.com – posted 127 reports in 365 days

Established web site – carboncoalition.com.au – collected 600 email contacts in 12 months

April, 2006 - Recruited Coalition Council members as advisory board: David Marsh, Rick Maurice, Col Seis, Angus Maurice.

Reguler press releases to national and rural media. Interviews with media.

April, 2006 - Gain support from Tim Flannery, Author, The Weather Makers

Add extensive “Library” of scientific papers and links to website and blogsite.

26 May, 2006 – Form alliance with Peter Andrews, Natural Sequence Farming

27 May, 2006 - Make presentation at Manning Landcare event, Gloucester NSW

2 June, 2006 - Brief NSW Farmers’ Association, Jock Laurie and David Ayrs, Sydney NSW

Write “Open Letter to Soil Scientists” for Australian Farm Journal

5 July, 2006 – Brief Central West delegation to NSW Farmers’ Association Conference, Wellington NSW

14 July, 2006 – Presentation for CWCMA at Mudgee Small Farm Field Day

19 July, 2006 – Make presentation to Baradine Landcare Group, Baradine, NSW

July, 2006 - Make presentation to Land Management Workshop, Cobar Field Day

15 August, 2006 - Brief National Farmers’ Federation, David Crombie and Dr Vanessa Findlay, Canberra ACT

2 September, 2006 – Make presentation to Gulgong Anglican Church Men’s Meeting, Gulgong NSW

USA 3 week fact finding mission
18/19 September: Washington DC – attend 2006 Global CO2 Cap-And-Trade Forum
21/22 September: Bozeman, Montana - Big Sky Carbon Sequestration Partnership Phase 2 Project Management Plan Workshop
25 September: College Station, Texas - Professor Bruce McCarl, Department of Agricultural Economics, Texas A&M University
27 September: Albuquerque, New Mexico - Peter Holter, Holistic Management International
28 September: Albuquerque, New Mexico - Southwest Carbon Sequestration Partnership Phase 2 Project Management Plan Workshop
29 September: Swanton, Vermont - Address Farmers' gathering organised by Coalition member Abe Collins from Vermont.
1 October: Columbus, Ohio - Professor Rattan Lal (or colleague), Ohio State University
3 October: Chicago, Illinois – Mike Walsh, SVP, Chicago Climate Exchange

Susan Capalbo, Director, Big Sky Carbon Sequestration Partnership.
Pamela Tomski is Associate Director responsible for outreach and education, Big Sky Carbon Sequestration Partnership.
Dave Brown, Technical Lead, Terrestrial Sequestration with Big Sky.
Michael Bowman, Director, 25:25, a movement that aims to have 25% of America's fuel needs supplied by farmers in 25 years.
Ted Dodge, Director, National Carbon Offsets Coalition which brokered the first carbon credits paid to US farmers In Montana and Kansas.
Professor Bruce McCarl of Texas A&M University, climate economist on the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change.
Dr Rattan Lal, author of a small library of books and papers, co-author of many others, Professor of Soil Physics at the School of Natural Resources at Ohio State University, Columbus Ohio.
Dr Klause Lorenz, Senior Research Fellow, the School of Natural Resources at Ohio State University, Columbus Ohio.

Launched Carbon Coalition in USA - Abe Collins, Carbon Farmer and Convenor, Swanton, Vermont.

Attended and addressed 2 day Phase 2 Workshop in Albuqurque, New Mexico of the Southwest Regional Partnership.
Met with Head of Partnership, Dr Brian McPherson, from the New Mexico Institute of Technology in Socorro.
Met with Dr Joel Brown and Dr Jay Angerer, the 'soil carbon sequestration' experts with the Southwest Partnership.
Met with Peter Holter, Holistic Management International.

Secured first order for 25,000 acres Australian soil (till to no till) from CCX.

23 October, 2006 – Make presentation to Kingaroy Carbon Forum, Kingaroy QLD

Submission to Commonwealth Minister for Environment, Sen. Ian Campbell via Parliamentary Secretary Greg Hunt, MP.

Coordinated 8-farm application for CWCMA Round 5 funding for carbon farming soil trials.

4 November, 2006 - Attended the “WALK AGAINST WARMING”, the International Day of Action on Climate Change on Saturday, Sydney NSW

4 November, 2006 - Briefed Federal Shadow Minister for Environment, Anthony Albanese MP

13 November, 2006 – meet with NSW President Soil Science Society re peer reviewed data for CCX and Summit of scientists and Practitioners

25 November, 2006 – Make presentation to Cobar/Nyngan Landcare group

11 December, 2006 – attend National Emissions Trading Summit, Sydney NSW

29 December, 2006 - Submissions (2) to National Emissions Trading Scheme Inquiry, Sydney NSW

Second Submission to Commonwealth Minister for Environment, Sen. Ian Campbell

22/23 November, 2006 - Speak at 2006 National Carbon Forum Canberra ACT

Organising Summit between Soil Scientists and Practitioners (March 2007)

Briefed Tony Windsor, MP, Canberra ACT (subsequently asks PM a question in Parliament)

13 December, 2006 - Briefed NSW Premier’s Advisory Panel on Climate Change, Sydney NSW

19 December, 2006 - Briefed NSW Farmers’ Asociation’s Jock Laurie. Subsequently calls for soil carbon credits.

Briefed NSW National Party MPs responsible for natural resources management election platform, Sydney NSW

Stand for NSW Legislative Council elections for Climate Change Coalition as soil carbon advocate.

Presented at Managing Under Changed Climactic Conditions Conference, Bathurst NSW

9 February, 2007 - Address South Australian No Till Farmers’ Association, Tanunda, SA

13 February, 2007 – Met with Peter Holter and Judy Earl, Holistic Management International

14 February, 2007 - Briefed NSW Department of Primary Industries Farm Management Climate Change Risk Management Steering Committee, Orange NSW

The Carbon Coalition to launch a farmers' soil carbon trading arm

We believe farmers who grow soil carbon should get full value for their work. That's why we are structuring a company which will buy and sell Soil Carbon Credits on the voluntary and mandatory, wholesale and retail markets to corporates and consumers. It will also trade in other carbon offsets such as renewable energy projects,. etc. This will not be a vehicle for wealthy investors and merchant bankers, but the shareholders will be the farmers selling and the corporates and consumers buying the SCCs. This gives the people who made the market possible the opportunity to be rewarded for that. As well, it gives them access to trading on the broader market, something most farmers wouldn't normally do. This will build a legacy for them when soil carbon saturates on their land. The Carbon Coalition set out to achieve a market to change the fortunes of the family farm. Now the time is near. Carbon Farmers™, the future is yours. The time to sign up is now. Please register as a grower or buyer at www.carboncoalition.com.au.

Soil Carbon Credits at $25, says NSW Commissioner NR

On 9/2/07 ABC TV's Stateline program broadcast a dramatic breakthrough for the cause of soil carbon credits for Australian farmers.

Statelikne anchorman Quentin Dempster announced the following: "Carbon trading can provide a new long term revenue stream for rural landholders and represents a paradigm shift for agriculture and land management here and globally. Instead of fighting the environment movement, the farmers and landowners could earn $25 per tonne for carbon dioxide stored in soil, plants and trees, native vegetation and sustainable cropping techniques, and that is a conservative estimate, according to former CSIRO chief scientist, Dr John Williams, who is now the Commissioner for Natural Resources in New South Wales. John Williams is the Commissioner for Natural Resources in New South Wales."

Dr WIlliams said this: "Agriculture is able, through photosynthesis, the taking of carbon out of the air and fixing it in a plant, and the plant root depositing it in the soil, along with the soil organisms over time - can build up quite large stores of carbon. In fact, 75 per cent of the carbon stored on land is stored in soil. Now, farmers can manage the storage of carbon not only in the soil but also in the vegetation, in the managing native vegetation or other forms of vegetation - can store carbon, which is an important part of managing our way forward in climate change. So farmers have a great opportunity.

"The way they can get an income from this is because, if we go, as believe we will, to a carbon trading or carbon tax system, it means that someone who is emitting carbon into the atmosphere can actually buy from the farmer carbon that is stored, to make up for the carbon they have emitted.

"It is [a new paradigm], when we look at farmers who are trading in decreasing terms of trade, that is, they’re paying more for the inputs for their product and getting less for their product. Yet, society is expecting from them to maintain, beyond their duty of care, the vegetation and the soils and the land that we all benefit from functioning properly as an ecosystem. So we have moved to a stage of saying, “Well, those ecosystem services, all the things that farmers do that we, you and I, benefit from, are currently taken but not paid for.”

Jock Laurie, President of the NSW Farmers' Association, came out publicly in support of the Coalition's position:
"The opportunity for us to sequest carbon, to put it into soil, to store it for the future is exactly what we're talking about. We have got the ability to do it... We want [state and national governments] to be very aware that we are and will be a major component in any trading system when it comes to carbon trading, and it is vitally important that we are involved in the whole process and they acknowledge what we are doing and obviously get paid for what we are doing.

"Certainly around the world there are cabin trading systems being looked and put in place at the moment. Agriculture and the massive land mass that Australia has - in New South Wales, which is about 80 per cent of the state - we look after, agriculture look after, so the opportunities there are absolutely fantastic and ourselves as an industry would be silly just to sit back now and not take advantage of that."

Then there followed this interchange:

QUENTIN DEMPSTER: All the farmers watching this will want to know how much.

JOHN WILLIAMS: Well, how much is the issue and it is just emerging, but at the moment the current price for a tonne of carbon is about $25, and the EEC system – we’ll have to trade carbon internationally, not just nationally. A tonne of carbon can be fixed over a 10 15 year period quite readily in current ago agricultural methodology in Australia.

QUENTIN DEMPSTER: That is potentially $25 per tonne of stored carbon, the equivalent of one or two hectares of vegetated land per 10 year period. So we are talking about a consistent revenue stream.

JOHN WILLIAMS: A consistent revenue stream for managing soil and the soil carbon and the vegetation carbon, so that we can actually address the climate change problem.

QUENTIN DEMPSTER: Up about $25 per tonne over a 10 year period?

JOHN WILLIAMS: That's right. That's a minimalist figure, but, until we know more, that's at least not raising hopes beyond what is realistic.

QUENTIN DEMPSTER: So it is a conservative estimate but it should be fixed in everybody's mind that that is what the future holds?

JOHN WILLIAMS: That’s what the future holds and, I think, as we go on in future, we’ll find an ability to – as farmers are very innovative, we will find ways in Australian circumstances of increasing the amount of carbon they can store in soil and managing it that way. At the same time I think the price for carbon will increase over time.

JOCK LAURIE: Certainly in this position I have become very aware of it over the last 12 to 18 months, but, prior to that, working on the land and being involved on the land about 30 years myself, I think we all spend so much time working with soils, making sure that we keep good soil strength, good soil textures there available and good grass cover. And what we didn’t realise in lots of ways, I think, was that we are actually doing what people are talking about, we’re actually storing carbon, but we have the ability to actually do better than that by changing some of the work practices, some of the farming practices that people are using, to be able to store more carbon.

That’s the issue we’re at now. We are asking people to do something in the community. Let's develop this system, and, once we develop the system, then we can really start getting some money back into the areas it needs to be.

QUENTIN DEMPSTER: Even though the United States has not signed the Kyoto Protocol, Dr Williams says some North American farmers are already trading their ecosystem, or carbon storage services, on a Chicago exchange. Here, Landcare and Greening Australia are rapidly moving to organise a trading exchange for carbon farming in Australia.

JOHN WILLIAMS: We need to be alert to it, that the Americans are on the front foot, and we need to be in the game.

SANTFA's brave plan for new climate

The South Australian No Till Farmers' Association has come up with an innovative plan for policing standards for soil carbon credits and other "environmental" payments and finance. Brainchild on SANTFA's recently-appointed Research & Development Manager Greg Butler, the scheme links together auditing for carbon credits, government environmental incentives, and favourable finance terms from banks. The plan will cover all Australian farmers and will be conducted by the Conservation Agricultural Association of Australia and New Zealand, the peak body of the Australasian no till cropping movement. The Carbon Coalition applauds Greg's vision and endorses such an industry-wide approach. SANTFA's plan was developed after consultations with the Carbon Coalition. We will report more details of this exciting development as they come to hand.

What is the potential value of soil carbon to farmers?

Soil carbon credits represent a big additional re venue opportunity for some farmers, according to this exerpt from
Dr Christine Jones' paper "Aggregate or aggravate? Creating soil carbon" (YLAD Living Soils Seminars: Eurongilly - 14 February, Young - 15 February 2006)

CALCUATING SOIL CARBON

Soil carbon content is usually expressed as either a concentration (%) or a stock (t/ha). Unless the depth of measurement and soil bulk density parameters are known, it is not possible to accurately convert from one unit of measurement to the other.

For the sake of illustration however, some simple assumptions can be made. Changes in the stock of soil carbon (t/ha) for each 1% change in measured organic carbon (OC) status for a range of soil bulk densities and measurement depths are shown in Table 1. Numbers in brackets represent tCO2 equivalent. An explanation of these terms follows.

Soil bulk density (g/cm3) is the dry weight (g) of one cubic centimetre (cm3) of soil. The higher the bulk density the more compact the soil. Generally, soils of low bulk density are well structured and have ‘more space than stuff’. The lower the bulk density the more room for air and water and the better the conditions for soil life and nutrient cycling. Bulk density usually increases with soil depth. To simplify the table it was assumed that soil bulk density did not change with depth

CO2 equivalent. Every tonne of carbon lost from soil adds 3.67 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) gas to the atmosphere. Conversely, every 1 t/ha increase in soil organic carbon represents 3.67 tonnes of CO2 sequestered from the atmosphere and removed from the greenhouse gas equation.

For example, from TABLE 1 we can see that a 1% increase in organic carbon in the top 20 cm of soil with a bulk density of 1.2 g/cm3 represents a 24 t/ha increase in soil OC which equates to 88 t/ha of CO2 sequestered.


TABLE 1. Changes in the stock of soil carbon (tC/ha) for each 1% change in measured organic carbon (OC) status for a range of soil bulk densities and measurement depths. Numbers in brackets represent tCO2 equivalent.





Value of soil carbon. Sequestered carbon is a tradeable commodity. It has different values in different markets and the price is subject to market fluctuation. If the CO2 equivalent in the above example was worth $15/t, the value of sequestered soil carbon in ‘carbon credits’ would be $1,056/ha. If the soil carbon concentration was increased by 1% to a depth of 30cm rather than to 20 cm, this would represent 132 t/ha sequestered CO2 at a value of $1,980/ha.

If organic carbon concentrations were increased by 2% to a depth of 30 cm in the same example, this would represent $3,960/ha, that is, almost $400,000 in ‘carbon credits’ per 100 ha of regenerated land. These levels of increase in soil carbon are achievable, and have already been achieved, by landholders practicing regenerative cropping and grazing practices.

Even if organic carbon levels were only increased by 0.5% in the top 10 cm of soil this would represent 22 t/ha sequestered CO2 valued at $33,000 per 100 ha regenerated land (assuming a soil bulk density of 1.2 g/cm3 and a price of $15/t CO2 equivalent).

Carbon credits for sequestered carbon are not an annual payment. In order to receive further credits, the level of soil carbon would need to be further increased. It is also important that the OC level for which payment was received is maintained.

This is not difficult with regenerative regimes in which new topsoil is being formed. Biological activity is concentrated in the top 10cm of most agricultural soils, but regenerative practices rapidly expand this activity zone to 30 cm and deeper. Many benefits in addition to potential carbon credits accrue to increased root biomass and increased levels of biological activity in soil.

The majority of Australian soils have lost enormous quantities of organic carbon and this process needs to be reversed. What has gone up must come down. Soils, plants, animals and people will benefit when we take ‘recycle and re-use’ to the next logical step and recycle the excess carbon currently in the atmosphere.

Farmers to be robbed again?

Australian farmers have been robbed of carbon credits to the tune of AUD$10.8 billion to date and it looks like the Commonwealth Government is set to rob them of billions more, says Carbon Coalition Against Global Warming convenor Michael Kiely.

Australia’s National Greenhouse Gas Accounts show that farmers, by reducing land clearing rates since 1990, offset significant increases in greenhouse gas emissions, the conservative value of these reductions is $10.8 billion in credits, according to the Australasian Emissions Trading Forum. “But Federal Government policy prevented farmers converting these reductions into tradable credits.”

And there’s more to come. “The words Peter McGauran used recently are ominous, when he was hosing down farmers’ expectations of getting paid for storing carbon in their soil,” says Mr Kiely. “The fix is on.”

“Farmers will be locked out of the upside of emissions trading, but they’ll be given a seat at the table when it comes time to pay, no doubt.” Farmers are big emitters of greenhouse gases, emitting CO2 when they plough or lime a paddock, nitrous oxide when they spread super, and methane from livestock.
“Agriculture is the second biggest emitter and the biggest emitter, the power companies, are demanding that agriculture be included when the big stick comes out.”
“Under such a system farmers will have to pay to plough, pay to fertilise, pay to graze.”
Farm Online reported on 7/2/2007: "The push for the Federal Government to set up a carbon emissions trading scheme is unlikely to help farmers earn an extra dollar." The Government's discussion paper on the potential for Australia’s participation in a carbon trading scheme.

The pape does not specifically address agriculture’s needs has brought criticism from National Farmers Federation president, David Crombie. "We're not impressed that we weren't involved - agriculture has earned a seat at the table,” Mr Crombie said. Deputy Prime Minister, Mark Vaile, "reassured" the rural sector that their interests will be taken care of by the Government.

We now know what being 'taken care of' means: Agriculture Minister, Peter McGauran, warns that farmers should not expect much from a carbon emissions trading scheme. "There's considerable hope in the sector at the moment that there could be money for farmers trading greenhouse credits – the value of carbon stored on their properties. We've currently got a trial going with Landcare to see how effective it might be. But the likelihood is it's not going to be massive. It's difficult to measure carbon stored at farm levels."

The tell tale sign that farmers are going to be robbed is the old chestnut ‘soil carbon is difficult to measure’. It’s quite the reverse. Scientists can measure it so well they insist on degrees of precision that make it impossible to proceed. The amounts of carbon held in trees is estimated on broad averages, but not soil carbon. America’s senior soil scientists are speaking out against this.

The second tell tale sign is the other chestnut: Australia’s soils can’t sequester much carbon. This has become holy writ among scientists who advise the government, and a huge joke among their peers. To make such generalizations about our soils is astonishing.

The levels of ignorance within the current government are to be understood against the background that its members have not had to deal with carbon issues, Australia having been excluded from the field by its own choice.

The ignorance of soil carbon dynamics under regenerative land management methods is plain for all to see. No Til cropping gets a mention, but it is a relatively low level carbon technique on its own. No Til largely stops the emission of CO2 from turning over the soil. It’s ability to increase soil carbon significantly on its own is limited.

Carbon farmers use a whole suite of techniques to get biological activity going in the topsoil, which is the engine-room of carbon manufacturing. Carbon farming has never been put to the test by scientists. It faces the same skepticism that Peter Andrews Natural sequence Farming faced until recently.

The fixation of the Federal Government on “Clean Coal” and Nuclear solutions and the fixation of the Greens on solar and wind proves few on either side understand the reality of climate change. None of these solutions will remove one tonne of the existing load of CO2 that is driving the world’s temperature up through the critical levels.”

Only soil and trees can do that. And there is not enough space on earth to plant enough trees to do the job in the time we have left to avoid the worst. Agricultural soils cover 65% of the earth’s landmass. It’s available, economical, and easy to mobilize… all it takes is for farmers to change their way of farming. And why should they do that? Soil carbon credits.

CARBON FARMING BASICS

Carbon Farming is not a new practice. It is a new way to describe a collection of techniques which can increase soil organic carbon in agricultural land.

There are many benefits linked to increases in soil carbon:

• Higher fertility and production of vegetation
• More secure soil structure
• Better usage of available water
• Reduced levels of evaporation
• Reduced hard panning of surface
• Reduced salination (salt scalding)
• Reduced loss of top soil to erosion
• Reduced silting on waterways
• Higher species diversity
• Higher ecological resistance to disease

Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Increased soil carbon also has the effect of absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere. Soil can absord vast amounts of carbon. It has been estimated by soil carbon specialists that close to many tonnes of CO2 can be absorbed in a single hectare with only a 1% increase in soil carbon in the top 30cm. An increase of 2% would double the amount of CO2 absorbed. “These levels of increase in soil carbon are achievable, and have already been achieved, by landholders practicing regenerative cropping and grazing practices,” says Dr Christine Jones.

The key to increasing soil carbon is biological activity in top soil. Soil carbon is created by bugs and microbes living and dying. They do a lot of living and dying when there is a lot of root action in the soil – vigorous growth and regular decaying of rootmass. Roots that are continually reaching down deep into the soil and then dying back and retreating. Their rotting remnants feed the microbes which produce the soil organic carbon.

Land management practices that encourage biological activity in soil include the following:

100% groundcover 100% of the time - This is a Carbon Farmer’s goal. Soil covered by plants cannot be blown or washed away. It is cooler and more attractive to microbes than if it was exposed to the sun. Therefore over-grazing (“flogging the land”, in Australian parlance) and burning grasses and stubble and ploughing are anti-carbon growing actions. In fact, they release tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere. These practices, along with clearing native vegetation, have put Agriculture in 2nd place, behind coal-burning power stations, as the biggest source of Australia’s Greenhouse Gas emissions.

Grazing management – Stock are concentrated in small paddocks for short periods (days) so that they graze evenly and at the same time ‘til’ the soil with their hooves, stomping old grass and manure into it. The plants are then left to grow a full head of foliage so that their roots go down as far as possible into the soil. When they are grazed, the roots die back upwards in proportion to how much of the foliage was eaten. Overgrazing can cause the roots to shrink so short they struggle to get started again. So short grazing periods and long periods of rest are best.

No til cropping – Ploughing disturbs the microbes and dries out the soil. It also releases tonnes of CO2 per hectare. ‘No til’ techniques sow the seed in the top soil without tearing off the existing foliage or applying herbicides which are also bad for microbes. There are several no til techniques, including “Pasture Cropping” and “Advanced Sowing”. The one ‘direct drills’ the seed into pasture while the other slices a line through the pasture and inserts the seed. The crop grows up above the pasture and can be harvested or grazed. The pasture usually thickens and grows more vigorously after such treatment.

Mulching – This takes two forms: 1. Covering bare earth with hay or dead vegetation. This protects the soil from the sun, cools it, and attracts soil-producing microbes. It also holds water where it can be used instead of letting it run off immediately. 2. Cutting down and dessicating tall, dead plants and thistles to form a layer of litter on the soil and allow the sun to penetrate and foster plant growth. Gardeners know the value of mulching.

Water management systems – Water is essential to the carbon growing process. Several systems have emerged for maximising us of water that falls on a farm. Two names are prominent: Natural Sequence Farming (NSF) and Yeoman’s Keyline System. NSF slows the flow of water through the landscape by returning enroded gulleys and creeks to swampy meadows and chains of ponds that they were when white settlers arrived. The water stays long enough to make more grass and plants grow, rather than rushing down widening gullies carrying the topsoil away. NSF is based on the natural topography of the land. So is Keyline planning. It uses the shape of the land to determine the layout and position of farm dams, irrigation areas, roads, fences, farm buildings and tree lines. Both methods increase soil fertility and carbon.

Biodynamics – This is a method of treating soil, based on the theories of mystic and theorist Rudolf Steiner. He postulated that vital forces or energies flowed throughout the universe and that these can be harnessed to increase plant growth. Biodynamics adopts a homeopathic approach to preparing natural fertiliser and times activities to align with cycles of the moon and the stars. Many ordinary, sober farmers report great results with biodynamic preparations.

Biological Farming – This is the umbrella term for the use of natural compounds to stimulate biological activity in the soil. These compounds range from compost teas (concocted after an analysis of the soil for deficiencies), worm ‘juice’ (active enzymes created from worm castings), Biosolids (human effluent which needs to be plowed into the soil for hygene and odour reasons - not a favourite of carbon farmers), Nitrohumus (treated human effluent, needs no ploughing) etc.

Composting - This largely involves breaking down manure into a rich humus ready to spread on the fields. There is also a growing movement for recycling green wastes from cities for use on agricultural lands.

Trees – Trees scattered across grasslands provide shelter for stock and wildlife and also have the effect of causing the soil adjacent to be richer in carbon. They can also assist in the management of water movement.

Rules of Carbon Farming

The following are the ‘rules’ of carbon farming:

1. There are no rules. Every farm is different. Ever farmer is different. Whatever path you take to increasing soil carbon is right, because it increases soil carbon.

2. There can only be suggestions.

10 Fundamental Facts About Climate Change Politicians and Media Don’t Understand

10 Fundamental Facts About Climate Change Politicians and Media Don’t Understand

MICHAEL KIELY, Woolgrower and Carbon Consultant, and Candidate for CLIMATE CHANGE COALITION in NSW Elections for Legislative Council says there are 10 Fundamental Facts About Climate Change which are not understood by politicians or the media:

1. Most of the responses to Climate Change being considered will not stop the global mean temperature rising through the critical levels.

2. If we stopped emitting greenhouse gases today there is already enough CO2 in the atmosphere to cause climate chaos. It is the ‘legacy load’ of 200 years of industrial emissions.

3. The Prime Minister’s favoured options of “Clean Coal” and nuclear power cannot capture existing CO2 in the atmosphere. They can only prevent future emissions.

4. The Greens’ favoured options of solar and wind power cannot capture existing CO2 in the atmosphere. They can only prevent future emissions.

5. Forests can absorb legacy load CO2, but there is not enough space on earth to plant enough trees to absorb the world’s emissions. We would need 7 planets.

6. Soil is the largest carbon “sink” over which we have control. It holds twice as much carbon as the atmosphere and twice as much as all the vegetation on earth, including forests.

7. 60% of the earth’s surface is used for agriculture. This soil can remove more CO2 from the atmosphere faster, sooner, and more economically than trees or any other method.

8. Simple changes in land management can immediately start the process of CO2 removal. These changes can be made immediately if farmers are paid carbon credits at the prices traded on the European Climate Exchange.

9. A 1% increase in soil carbon in 10% of Australia’s agricultural soils would remove 10 years’ legacy load of the nation’s emissions.

10. The land management tools for increasing soil carbon also restore the land, prevent erosion and salination, improve biodiversity, and increase productivity. They are also the most effective means of coping with reduced rainfall and higher temperatures due to Climate Change.


Protecting the Family Farm – Soil Carbon Credits

Michael Kiely says: “I am not a politician. I didn’t enter this fight to save the environment. I stand for the Australian family farm. It is a key source of community. It is an important source of what it means to be Australian. It is a foundation stone of our national identity.

“Soil Carbon Credits offer farm families a revenue stream that will last long enough to restore the natural resource base on which their livelihood depends.

“Soil Carbon Credits protects rural communities from the reduction of demand for local services when adjacent family farms are bought up by city-based investors in CO2 ‘tree farm plantations’ (aka. Forests) and families are removed from local schools, medical servicse, retail outlets, etc.

““Soil Carbon Credits will give the much maligned farm sector a lead role in the global climate crisis.

“They are one way that city people can help country people. Better than a hand out or a government payment for environmental services, which farmers see as little more than work for the dole.”

WHO IS MICHAEL KIELY?

Michael Kiely is a woolgrower from the Wellington district of NSW and Convenor of the Carbon Coalition Against Global Warming, a farmers’ and citizens’ movement which aims to have soil carbon recognised as a major solution to Climate Change. He is also the principal of CarbonCredited™Brands, a service which helps corporations become carbon neutral while taking their stakeholders on the journey. He is also principal of Carbon•Farmers™, a company that aggregates and sells soil carbon credits. These companies provide funding for Carbon Coalition operations. Michael has been a regular speaker at the “Managing The Carbon Cycle” Forums around Australia which started in 2005. He has been a delegate at many high level symposia in Australia and the USA. He led a fact-finding delegation to the USA on behalf of Australian farmers in 2006. While there, he negotiated the first order for soil carbon credits from the Chicago Climate Exchange. He attended workshops, briefing sessions and meetings with members of 3 of President George W. Bush’s 7 ‘regional partnerships’ of states whose senior scientists are preparing the USA’s geologic and land management sequestration strategies. He recently appeared as an expert witness before the NSW Premier’s Greenhouse Advisory Panel and the NSW Department of Primary Industries Climate Risk Management Project. He is a member of the Australian Business Council for Sustainable Energy.

"If we stopped emitting Co2 now...."

The leaked report from the authoritative Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that appeared on 27th January, contains one chilling observation: “"Twenty-first century anthropogenic (human) carbon dioxide emissions will contribute to warming and sea level rise for more than a millennium, due to the timescales required for removal of this gas.”

In other words, even if we stopped emitting right now, it will take 1000 years for the CO2 levels to return to ‘normal’. The danger lies in the legacy load of CO2, the volumes we released over the past 200 years, that are likely to push the median world temperature past the critical 2°C mark and take us into climate chaos. And it is this CO2 that cannot be captured by “clean coal” technology and immobilized by geosequestration or buried in deep ocean trenches, the solutions favoured by President Bush and John Howard. Nor is it the CO2 that won’t be released when power is generated by solar or wind turbines. It is the CO2 that is out there and can’t be captured at source or substituted.

It has to be sequestered by the only means possible: by the natural processes that lock carbon up in trees and soils.

Many scientists have recognized the dilemma of the “legacy load”. “The carbon dioxide that’s in our atmosphere today – even if we were to stop emitting it tomorrow – would live for many decades, centuries and beyond,” said Dr Susan Solomon, senior scientist of the of the Global Monitoring Division of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “A fraction of the carbon dioxide that we’ve put into the atmosphere today due to human activity would still be there in 1,000 years.”

Britain’s Chief Scientist Sir David King said that, “even if humanity were to stop emitting carbon dioxide today, temperatures will keep rising and the impacts keep changing for 25 years.”

Neither governments and scientists have plans to deal with the legacy load that will create the havoc. Instead, they focus entirely on future emissions. When they finally do focus on the problem, they will seek to back a winner. The obvious candidate is forest plantings. But these have inherent weaknesses.

"Most 'forests' sold as carbon sinks are plantations or tree farms which are less secure than natural forests. Tree farms start their life emitting tonnes of carbon because they tear up the vegetation that covers the soil, releasing CO2 into the atmosphere," says Carbon Coalition Against Global Warming convenor Michael Kiely. "Then herbicides are used to kill off other plant species that the birds and other wildlife rely on. The result is a biodiversity desert. Not an Australian forest."

Typically a tree farm will be a 'monoculture' - a one species environment - which lacks the 'resilience' to resist parasite and insect attack. This makes them susceptible to fire, which would release tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere.

Tree farms are also a bad investment when it comes to storing carbon, when compared to the natural forest: A study reported in New Forests concluded that: "An area covered with a plantation managed for maximum volume yield will normally contain substantially less carbon than the same area of unmanaged forest". A similar study in Oregon found that a 450-year-old natural forest stored 2.2 to 2.3 times more carbon than a 60-year-old douglas fir plantation on a comparable site.

Tree farms are good for city-based investors and tree farming executives, but bad for rural communities. When a large industrial-sized operation buys up 10 neighbouring farms and puts them all under trees, the plantation pulls 10 families out of the local schools, 10 incomes out of the local economy. In most small districts this would mean the end of soclai infratructure like local medical and banking services as well as a deterioration of the community’s ability to support each other.

“A forest isn't the safest place to lock up your carbon if the climate scientists are right when they say Australia will have more bushfires of the type that have been ravaging forests all summer, " says Mr Kiely.

Trees cannot lock up CO2 for 100 years, as promised, because they start emitting CO2 as soon as they drop limbs and leaves which decay. Trees stop ‘sequestering’ carbon when they reach maturity.

Pro-forest green groups Greenpeace, WWF and Friends of the Earth have given tree farms the thumbs down.

Finally, trees aren’t going to save the world. We can’t plant enough of them in the time we have left, and not all soils are suitable. The UK Department of Energy estimates that to offset the UK’s total carbon dioxide emissions would require the planting of a new area of tropical forest about 1.5 times the size of the UK. "We don't have enough land to make up for all our emissions; you would need seven planets," say Tim Cadman, a PhD candidate at the University of Tasmania who has spent years researching the forestry industry and government forest policy.

The World Rainforest Movement claims that to compensate for the eight gigatonnes of carbon we currently release into the atmosphere every year would require planting four times the area of the United States with trees, never letting these trees die and decay thereafter. Millions of hectares of land would have to be taken over for carbon sequestration to have even a small impact on overall emissions.

But farmers can provide a solution. Given that 60% of the earth’s surface is grazing land, farmers have critical mass. They can sequester carbon at rates higher than tree farms using a combination of native perennial grasslands, foregone clearing of native forest, and regrowth of native vegetation as part of their farm plan. Australian farmers have done precisely this, enabling Prime Minister John Howard to boast that Australia has met its obligations under Kyoto 1, despite refusing to ratify the treaty. Not a cent was paid to the farmers who generated the ‘credits’.

So when you are buying carbon credits, insist on genuine, all-natural true forests and soil carbon credits – and vote 1 for ecology and the family farm.
……………………

VOTE [1] The Carbon Coalition On 24th March

The Carbon Coalition has been invited to provide a candidate to stand as part of the Climate Change Coalition (CCC) in the next election for the NSW Legislative Council. Convenor Michael Kiely says he agreed to stand in the coalition of independents solely to give soil carbon credits a platform for greater awareness in the community and in government circles. For instance, in its press release headed "10 things the NSW Government can do now", number 10 is "Promote the sequestering of carbon in soil and foster a start up industry for the rural sector"

The CCC is fielding a full ticket, headed by Patrice Newell, prominent Hunter Valley grazier and olive industry figure.

YOU CAN HELP:
Members of the Carbon Coalition can help us by registering to hand out 'how to vote' forms at their local polling booth for part of the day on 24th March, the election day.


The following is an introduction to the CCC:

We've formed the Climate Change Coalition to accelerate action by politicians from all parties on the most urgent and important issue in human history.

While the Coalition is not itself a political party it supports many Independent candidates who are committed to its platform.

Climate change is no abstract scientific or environmental issue. It impacts on every part of our daily lives. It is personal, local, national and global.

The time for denial is over. The political posturing and games must end. We must unite to ensure urgent action so that our children and grandchildren can have a sustainable future.

While we might be divided by ideology, religion, geography, history, class or self interest, we must come together to ensure the survival of our planet.

It is vital that the Climate Change Coalition’s values be represented in the New South Wales Parliament. All legislation needs to be assessed and scrutinized to evaluate its impact on climate change.

Members of Parliament who support the Climate Change Coalition are committed to asking two key questions about each piece of legislation that comes into the New South Wales Parliament. Does the proposed law address climate change? How can it be amended to make it better?

We recognise that there are MP's on all sides of NSW's politics intent on doing the right thing. They are often prevented from speaking out by party policy or pressure groups. We will work with them to get a freer debate - to produce the dynamics of the "conscience vote" across the legislative spectrum.

Further, the Climate Change Coalition will work with any group, organization, or individual to form alliances and encourage political creativity. There is no guide book to what must be done. There is no precendent for this crisis. It requires entirely new scientific, communal and political approaches.

Whatever our differences on other issues, whether we're left wing or right wing or middle of the road, is irrelevent. We must work together. Now.

Patrice Newell

Buy Soil Carbon Credits from Carbon•Farmers™

Buy Soil Carbon Credits from Carbon•Farmers™

We have dived right in the deep end and are offering soil carbon credits to the consumer market (see http://buycarboncredits.blogspot.com), targetting baby boomer grandparents concerned about climate change and the way the world will be when they aren't there to look after their grandchildren. We are using the trading name Carbon•Farmers™

Why did we do it?

To raise funds for the Carbon Coalition and enable our work to continue.
To raise awareness of the opportunity soils offer in the climate change crisis.
And to break the cycle of fiddling while Rome burns favoured by bureaucrats and scientists.

Politicians and scientists want to argue about the precise dimensions of the lifeboats on the Titanic - subjecting soil carbon to 4 years of trialling before giving it the go ahead, when Stern and others give us only 10 years to make a dent in the legacy load of CO2 in the atmosphere and soil is the only solution with the existing capacity to sequester legacy load in the time we have left. Forests will cost too much to plant on the scale required, take too long to plant, and too long to sequester. Every other solution is aimed at preventing new emissions, not dealing with legacy load. We have got to get cash flowing into the pockets of land managers who to encourage changes in soil management to sequester more carbon. If we managed to increase soil C by 1% in 10% of Australia's agricultural soils, we estimate we could sequester 10 years worth of our emissions. Can you sense the urgency? We are also - concurrently - seeking funding for trials of 'carbon farming techniques' and seeking to build bridges with scientists, trying to find one or two willing to operate in the real world and not this absurd Alice In Wonderland world where you can measure everything but you can't do anything. Given the extraordinary degree of estimation and averaging in calculating C sequestered in trees and C released by power stations, the death of a thousand core samples inflicted on soil carbon amounts - in context of climate change chaos - either to conspiracy to prevent farmers access to the carbon market, or criminal negligence on the part of those who would rather find reasons why it can't happen than look for ways of making it happen. We live by the words, "Lead, follow or get out of the way." We may fail, but it won't be for want of trying.

Only one MP 'gets it'

The Member for New England, Tony Windsor, is the only politician who 'gets' the carbon credits for soils issue. That's because he listens and he is not forced to toe the party line. His press release which reported his question in the House of Representatives in November, after he attended the National Carbon Forum in Canberra, is the most well-informed comment made by a public figure about soil carbon.

His release included the following: "Mr Windsor believes that the potential to use carbon credits to reward agricultural practices could not only improve Australia's soils, but also store carbon in the soil rather than the atmosphere and could be one of the solutions that the Federal Government is looking for.

"'With appropriate changes to land management, agricultural soils have the capacity to sequester and store large volumes of carbon, thus improving microbial contact, biological activity, fertility, soil structure, stability, resistance to erosion and ultimately biodiversity, productivity and profitability.

'Increasing soil carbon can significantly reduce the impact of dryland salinity, reduce sedimentation rates in rivers and streams, improve water quality, improve air quality, and decrease the impact of the Greenhouse Effect, global warming and climate change."

Tony was a farmer before his parliamentary career. He has defeated National Party candidates for the State seat of Tamworth and the Federal seat of New England. His hold on these seats is such that former Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson approached him through business identity Greg Maguire with the offer of a diplomatic post if he would surrender his seat. The Honourable John Anderson denied the allegation.
Tony can be reached at Tony.Windsor.MP@aph.gov.au with information and support.

Yes, Prime Minister? No, Prime Minister...

The Carbon Coalition was lucky enough to do a personal pesentation to Independent MP for the federal seat of New England, Tony Windsor during the lunch break at Christine Jones's National Carbon Forum in Novermber 2006. Tony was the only federal politician to attend. He was only there for half a day, but he's a fast learner. A week later he asked the Prime Minister a question in the House wwhich put soil carbon credits on the National agenda.

On the 27th November, 2006, Tony Windsor asked the following question:

"Prime Minister... given that the black soils in question have potential under appropriate land use management to be a natural carbon sink, could you include the farm sector in the carbon task force recently announced?"

The PM replied:

"... This joint task force is to look at the potential shape of a world emission rtrading system. Whilst the farm sector has an interest in that, I do not think the interest is as great sa, say, the resources sector. I will consider it."

The request has not been agreed to.

The PM's oblique reference to the resources sector masks the fact that he is referring to the coal industry, whose members dominate the task force. This has two implications: 1. The findings of the enquiry are already decided. 2. The coal industry's desires will be incorporated in the Government's carbon strategy. (The coal industry is still arguing that climate change is a myth.) The ability of the coal industry to actually write government policy was reveals in an ABCTV 4Corners program. The transcript of the program is available in our Library under "Carbon Conspiracies: Greenhouse Mafia".

Setback for our baselining trials

The Carbon Coalition made a Round 5 application to the Central West CMA for funding for soil carbon trials on 8 properties to prove that accelerated sequestration techniques such as time controlled grazing, pasture cropping, biological farming, biodynamics and compost teas can raise soil C scores rapidly. We were encouraged by the CMA to make it and were very confident - and worked on the assumption that the baselining trials would be starting soon. But we were unsuccessful. It was our second knockback on soil carbon, as we made a submission in Round 4 as well. We now understand why. The CMA's brief does not include fighting global warmingor figthing for carbon credit for agricultural soils. So they can't be criticised for sticking to a strict, narrow and conventional reading of their role. Instead we will seek the research funding we need from the private sector and fundraising.

What a difference when we presented to the NSW Premier's Expert Panel on CLimate Change 3 weeks ago and received a fantastic response. Adam Spencer (ABC Science and radio person) asked "What could you do with $650 million?" The DPI representative Annette Cowie gave us the thumbs up when asked "Does the science on this check out?" The presentation was arranged by Tony Lovell, a HM trainer from the Gold Coast who we met at the Carbon Forum at Kingaroy, and was attended by Bruce Ward, HM trainer from Sydney. Tony did a magnificent job presenting. Stunning.

We have since been contacted by the DPI team working on Greenhouse Response Options for landholders. We get to do another presentation.

We are moving ahead with our 25 000 acres pilot trade with Chicago Climate Exchange on no-till farming land. WE are at the stage of finding the 'peer reviewed' data that they need. We are looking for a soil scientist to help us pull the data together.

We're interested in forming alliance with scientists. We have a group of scientists willing to help us FIND WAYS to show that
our soils can sequester C. We are up against the establishment view that Australian soils can't sequester much carbon. We are planning to have a one day forum between scientists who want to help, and practitioners - narrow the gap between the two and forge alliances to move forward. This could happen in February.

You should also know that Patrice Newell (a HM and BD practitioner) has asked Michael to stand on her ticket (Climate Change Coalition) for the NSW Legislative Council elections in March. The CCC is a coalition of independents and it gives us a platform to promote the Carbon Coalition and SOil Carbon Credits because we are helping develop their policy on carbon trading and renewables. Patrice is a high profile beef and olive grower in the Hunter. We'll see how this goes, then consider the Senate Elections in November 07. Hopefully by then we wont need to. We need volunteers to person the booth. Please email me if you can help.

Don't forget - we need anecdotal data/evidence for soil carbon. And I give you this tip. If there's a farmed-out and buggered property nearby, keep yoru eye on it. The day we announce soil carbon credits there will be a land rush that will make the squatters land grab in the late 18th/early19th century look like an egg and spoon race. People who know about soil carbon and how to grow it and can identify low hanging fruit will prosper.