The carbon farming caper is supported by all political parties. Under it, landowners can sell “carbon credits” if they can prove that they have reduced carbon dioxide by capturing it as humus in soil, or by planting forests, or by allowing re-growth of woody weeds, or by reducing feral animal emissions (shooting camels) or even by promising solemnly to NOT clear specified parcels of forest.
NONE of these processes are sustainable in the long run.
There is a limit to the amount of humus or trees that can be based on one hectare of top-soil.
And once all feral animals have been shot there are no more carbon credits to be earned there (unless the landowner is also breeding them secretly in the back paddock).
And even in the corrupt carbon market for hot air, only one payment can be legally claimed for promising to NOT clear a parcel of land (and one bushfire will reverse all that in one afternoon).
The whole concept is unsustainable, it encourages corruption, and most of the benefits will go to the big B’s - Bureaucracies, Bankers and Brokers.
African farmers are saying “No” to land-grabbing carbon credit speculators.
Australia should do the same.
Viv Forbes,
Rosewood,Qld, Australia
Viv Forbes, Chairman, The Carbon Sense Coalition, has spent his life working in exploration, mining, farming, infrastructure, financial analysis and political commentary. He has worked for government departments, private companies and now works as a private contractor and farmer.
Viv has also been a guest writer for the Asian Wall Street Journal, Business Queensland and mining newspapers. He was awarded the “Australian Adam Smith Award for Services to the Free Society” in 1988, and has written widely on political, technical and economic subjects.
