Zero Carbon Australia Land Use Agriculture And Forestry

In the mid-2000s it seemed that the global carbon market would take off and spark the worldwide transition to a profitable low carbon economy. A decade on, the experiment in carbon trading is failing. Carbon market schemes have been plagued by problems and resistance to carbon pricing has come from the political Left and Right. In the Australian case, a national emissions trading scheme (ETS) was dismantled after a long, bitter public debate. The replacement ‘Direct Action Plan’ is also in disrepute. Pricing Carbon in Australia examines the rise and fall of the ETS in Australia between 2007 and 2015, exploring the underlying contradictions of marketised climate policy in detail. Through this and other international examples, the book offers a critique of the political economy of marketised climate policy, exploring why the hopes for global carbon trading have been dashed. The Australian case is interpreted in light of a broader legitimation crisis as state strategies for (temporarily) displacing the climate crisis continue to fail. Importantly, in the wake of carbon market failure, alternative agendas for state action are emerging as campaigns for the retrenchment of fossil fuel assets and for just renewable energy transition continue transforming climate politics and policy as we know it. This book is a valuable resource for practitioners and academics in the fields of environmental policy and politics and social movement studies.

Meat consumption impacts all aspects of human life and humanity?s long-term survival prospects. Despite this knowledge, society continues to ignore the negative impact of consuming meat, which include excessively high contributions to global greenhouse gas emissions, land and water pollution and depletion, antimicrobial resistance, and negative impacts on human health. Impact of Meat Consumption on Health and Environmental Sustainability addresses the difficulties, challenges, and opportunities in reducing excessive meat consumption in order to mitigate human and environmental damage. Policymakers, academicians, researchers, advanced-level students, technology developers, and government officials will find this text useful in furthering their research exposure to pertinent topics such as dietary recommendations for limiting meat consumption, trade and the meat industry, ethics of meat production and consumption, and the environmental impacts of meat consumption.

Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change is a fundamental resource for primary industry professionals, land managers, policy makers, researchers and students involved in preparing Australia’s primary industries for the challenges and opportunities of climate change. More than 30 authors have contributed to this book, which moves beyond describing the causes and consequences of climate change to providing options for people to work towards adaptation action. Climate change implications and adaptation options are given for the key Australian primary industries of horticulture, forestry, grains, rice, sugarcane, cotton, viticulture, broadacre grazing, intensive livestock industries, marine fisheries, and aquaculture and water resources. Case studies demonstrate the options for each industry. Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change summarises updated climate change scenarios for Australia with the latest climate science. It includes chapters on socio-economic and institutional considerations for adapting to climate change, greenhouse gas emissions sources and sinks, as well as risks and priorities for the future.

What are the 10 key issues that must be addressed urgently to improve Australia's environment? In this follow up to the highly successful book Ten Commitments: Reshaping the Lucky Country's Environment, Australia’s leading environmental thinkers have written provocative chapters on what must be done to tackle Australia's environmental problems – in terms of policies, on-ground actions and research. Each chapter begins with a brief overview of the 10 key tasks that need to be addressed in a given field, and then each issue is discussed in more detail. Chapters are grouped into ecosystems, sectors and cross-cutting themes. Topics include: deserts, rangelands, temperate eucalypt woodlands, tropical savanna landscapes, urban settlements, forestry management , tropical and temperate marine ecosystems, tropical rainforests, alpine ecosystems, freshwater ecosystems, coasts, islands, soils, fisheries, agriculture, mining, grazing, tourism, industry and manufacturing, protected areas, Indigenous land and sea management, climate change, water, biodiversity, population, human health, fire, energy and more. Ten Commitments Revisited is a must read for politicians, policy makers, decision makers, practitioners and others with an interest in Australia’s environment.

Social practice theories help to challenge the often hidden paradigms, worldviews, and values at the basis of many unsustainable practices. Discourses and their boundaries define what is seen as possible, as well as the range of issues and their solutions. By exploring the connections between practices and discourses, Minna Kanerva develops a conceptual approach enabling purposive change in unsustainable social practices. Radical transformation towards new meatways is arguably necessary, yet complex psychological, ideological, and power-related mechanisms currently inhibit change.

Feeding the world's growing human population is increasingly challenging, especially as more people adopt a western diet and lifestyle. Doing so without causing damage to nature poses an even greater challenge. This book argues that in order to create a sustainable food supply whilst conserving nature, agriculture and nature must be reconnected and approached together. The authors demonstrate that while the links between nature and food production have, to some extent, already been recognized, until now the focus has been to protect one from the impacts of the other. Instead, it is argued that nature and agriculture can, and should, work together and ultimately benefit from one another. Chapters describe efforts to protect nature through globally connected protected area systems and illustrate how farming methods are being shaped to protect nature within agricultural systems. The authors also point to many ways in which nature benefits agriculture through the ecosystem services it provides. Overall, the book shows that nature conservation and food production must be considered as equally important components of future solutions to meet the global demand for food in a manner that is sustainable for both the human population and the planet as a whole.

There is no question that the timber industry needs to adopt sustainable practices that ensure a future for the industry. This book goes well beyond simply growing commercial tree plantations for wood production. It explores new forests that can supply environmental services such as salinity mitigation and carbon sequestration together with commercial wood production in an environment beyond the boundaries of traditional forestry. New Forests targets agricultural landscapes affected by salinity and which generally have rainfall less than 650 mm per year. The book addresses vital issues such as where tree planting might best be pursued, what species and technologies should be used for establishment and later management, how productivity can be improved, what mix of environmental services and commercial goods is optimum, and whether the likely net benefits justify the change in land use and requisite investment. While the book is focussed on the low-rainfall, agricultural, inland zone of the Murray-Darling Basin wherever possible the scope of most chapters has been expanded to synthesise generic information applicable to other regions in Australia and elsewhere. The authors provide a comprehensive account of all the issues relevant to the development of these new forests, covering soils, the bio-physical environment, water use and irrigation strategies - including the use of wastewater, silviculture, pests and diseases, wood quality and products, and economics and policy implications.