5 march 2010
NZ opens centre to tackle agriculture emissions

New Zealand has pledged to spend tens of millions of dollars on research to reduce emissions from agriculture, the first step from a global alliance which has been established to target reductions in the sector.

Agriculture is a major source of greenhouse gases that scientists blame for heating up the planet and about half of New Zealand's emissions come from this sector, a higher proportion than any other developed country.

A centre combining private and public sector science bodies was opened on Wednesday to drive research into cutting agricultural emissions, such as methane and nitrous oxide, both far more powerful greenhouse gases than carbon dioxide.

"This centre will support New Zealand in taking a significant leap forward in meeting the challenge of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture while increasing productivity," Agriculture Minister David Carter said in a statement.

"New Zealand must meet its international commitments to the Kyoto Protocol and it must support farmers and growers to achieve this through new technologies," Carter added.

The primary sector, which includes agriculture, forestry, wine growing and horticulture, accounts for about half of New Zealand's exports, with diary by far the largest contributor. New Zealand's largest company is dairy co-operative Fonterra, which generates about 7 percent of GDP. Methane, produced in the digestive tracts of sheep, cows and goats, is a major byproduct of dairy farming. Nitrous oxide is produced mainly from the use of nitrogen fertilisers.

The research centre is the first step to tackle agricultural emissions research from the 20-country Global Research Alliance formed during the Copenhagen climate change talks, the government said.

The government has pledged to spend NZ$50 million ($35 million) over the next five years to fund the centre.

The country will also host the first meeting of the alliance, which includes the United States, Britain, Australia, India, France and Germany, in April.

The government has a target of cutting national emissions by between 10 and 20 percent from 1990 levels by 2020, primarily through a cap-and-trade based emissions trading scheme.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/SGE6210LM.htm

***