Climate change action urgent, says professor
The latest global warming report is a wake-up call for New Zealand agriculture, scientists warn.
The report says if warming is to be limited to 1.5 degrees, then on a global basis methane emissions need to be cut by 35 per cent by 2050.
About 43 per cent of New Zealand’s greenhouse gases are caused by methane and 11 per cent by nitrous oxide, the first generated by all livestock burping, the latter mainly by cows urinating.
A single dairy cow generates about 3 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent every year in the form of methane.
A lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Professor Bronwyn Hayward of the University of Canterbury, said New Zealanders had to ‘‘scale up action in unprecedented ways across all sectors of our economy and everyday life, over the next 10 years’’.
She said the 35 per cent reduction was not a target for New Zealand but what was needed globally.
Federated Farmers climate change spokesman Andrew Hoggard said the task for New Zealand farmers would be chal- lenging. ‘‘When we map out what technology might be out there, including genetic engineering, then that’s pushing the envelope. There are trade-offs that will have to be considered.’’
Some scientists have argued that methane emissions need only be stabilised. However Hayward said the IPCC report argued against stabilisation.
‘‘It’s a real wake-up call because we have been thinking we can stabilise methane but even if we do, we are still contributing about 10 per cent a year in that overall heating.
‘‘This report has taken into consideration all the new research since 2014, that’s 6000 papers, and while it’s informed by New Zealand’s scientific work, it has the weight of global research.’’