MANAGING DROUGHT AS THE CLIMATE CHANGES

The plight of farmers facing the current drought has understandably prompted an outpouring of sympathy that has resulted in a deluge of donations and offers of assistance from the broader community. However, while acknowledging the emotional and economic suffering, questions are being raised about the wisdom of subsidising, and therefore perpetuating, what are clearly unsustainable farming practices.

70% of Australia's mainland is classed as arid or semi-arid, yet over half of Australia is used for grazing or agriculture. Therefore, after removing public forests and national parks from the equation, some 30% of farming activity is taking place in semi-desert country, something which will only worsen as the world gets hotter under climate change.

So far, with no end in sight, and driven by criticism from the industry that the government isn't doing enough, taxpayers have had to commit $1.8 billion in government drought relief. Much of that criticism comes from the same sector that lobbied incessantly against the Native Vegetation Act (NVA), and publicly burned copies of the Murray Darling Basin Plan.

Ironically, deforestation is known to result in hotter landscapes and decreased rainfall, and broad-scale land clearing is something the NVA was designed to slow. Also it is livestock, and the management thereof, that has caused the bare dirt paddocks and starving animals which fill our media, not the drought.

The farming community has always accused city-based 'lefties' of trying to dictate what can be done on their land, but has no problem demanding assistance from those taxpayers whenever natural disasters occur.

Perpetuating the situation is clearly not the answer so, rather than pay billions of dollars to keep stock alive on marginal land, why not pay landowners to remove livestock, and manage their land as carbon sinks to help reverse climate change impacts?

The conundrum here is that it would require a recognition of the reality of climate change, and the introduction of some sort of carbon trading scheme, both of which are unacceptable to any of the political parties that currently claim to support farming communities.

            - John Edwards

 This article was originally published in the VOICES FOR THE EARTH column in The Daily Examiner on September 17, 2018.  

CLIMATE COUNCIL REPORT ON DROUGHT IN AUSTRALIA

The Climate Council  is an independent organisation which provides the Australian community with information on climate change.  It was formed after the Abbott Federal Government abolished the Climate Commission, as  part of its policy of dismantling  instrumentalities set up by the previous government to monitor and take action on climate change. The new Climate Council received significant finance from the community through crowd funding.

The Council's new report Thirsty country: Climate change and drought in Australia which is based on studies from a variety of sources, including the CSIRO and Australian Bureau of Meteorology, points to changes affecting southern Australia which have become increasingly obvious in recent years.

The report discusses changes in rainfall patterns which are resulting in less rain in areas such as south-western Western Australia and southern South Australia - particularly in winter and spring, the seasons when these regions formerly received their major rainfall.  Other parts of the south of the continent are also receiving less rainfall.  And in addition temperatures are increasing with longer periods of hot extremes.  Diminishing rainfall and increased temperatures will lead to more periods of drought .

Some of the effects of drought which will be exacerbated as a result of their increased frequency are:

• Economic impacts which include a decline in agricultural production which creates difficulties for farmers and damages both regional economies and the national economy. A further impact on the economy is the high cost of provision of drought support to farmers.
• Human health impacts.  Included in these is an increase in suicide levels.
• Environmental impacts including loss of biodiversity both terrestial and aquatic.  A recent example has been the death of large numbers of  River Red Gums along the Murray River during the millenium Drought (1996-2010).  Many of these trees were hundreds of years old.
• Impacts on urban water supplies. Diminished rainfall in the south of the continent will have serious ramifications for many urban areas and for the major cities of Perth, Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney. These major cities have a combined population of 13 million people (more than half of Australia's current population).

The Report  provides a very clear call for effective action on climate change.  It is obviously in our national interest that all levels of Australian governments as well as community members take action and strongly support international action to limit carbon emissions.

The following action needs to be taken in this country as a matter of urgency:

• Encourage the expansion of renewable energy.  This means a decision must be made on the Renewable Energy Target (RET) to end the uncertainty for the renewables industry - an important employer of Australians.  The RET should be maintained at a high level - not watered down as the Federal Government wants because of its cosiness with the fossil fuel industries.
• Phase out coal-mining.  There should be no new coal mines - and that includes proposed new coal mines in the Galilee Basin (Qld) and Liverpool Plains (NSW).
• Close Australia's dirtiest power stations. (The dirtiest is brown-coal fired Hazelwood in Victoria's Latrobe Valley.)
• Phase out unconventional gas production in the areas where it is already operating and ban any further development of unconventional gas-mining (CSG etc.)
• Implementation of a scheme which puts an effective price on carbon -not the wishy-washy "pay the polluter" scheme which is the Federal Government's "Direct Action" plan.

The Climate Council's Report on climate change and drought.