Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Eyes on prize of beating climate change
Dairy industry is top of the game for sequestering carbon, says Wiltshire farmer Ro Collingborn
COP 28 is about to start in Dubai. The abbreviation stands for ‘Conference of the Parties’ and this conference has been held every year since 1995 with the object of getting countries across the world together to review and reduce the effects of climate change, particularly to prevent planet-warming gases from coal, oil and natural gas being emitted into the atmosphere. This year 192 countries will be attending.
Top emitters such as Russia, USA and Canada did not sign up to these aims until 2015 at the Paris Agreement. This delayed early progress. Over the years, these conferences have become must-attend events with a carnival atmosphere and star names like Leonardo DiCaprio and Emma Watson attending. This year more than 70,000 people are expected. Last year in Egypt it was 45,000. Host countries have gained in high hotel fees and also airlines which ironically benefit by bumping up the price of airfares.
The EU will have 10 delegates covering 27 countries, whereas it’s too costly for the poorer countries who are most affected by climate change to send more than one. Critics would say it’s sometimes more of a talking shop than representatives hammering out final points to reach an agreement. However, side events can yield excellent results, like some rainforest nations agreeing to end deforestation by 2030.
The poorer countries of the world, such as Sri Lanka, Fiji and the Pacific Islands, would say that the rich countries’ promises to send funding do need legs. Last year it was agreed to set up a Loss and Damage Fund, to be finalised at Cop 28 and this is a crucial point on this year’s agenda. Mitigation funding is key, bearing in mind that the richest 1% of the world’s population contribute more to carbon emissions than the poorest 66%.
Relatively undeveloped island nations which have contributed little to climate change are in danger of being wiped out by rising oceans. They have not caused climate change but are the first victims. They have also accumulated huge debts due to climate disasters. To make progress it’s essential that the richer polluting countries put their hands in their pockets.
The goal is to limit an increase in world temperatures to 1.5%, whereas we are currently on for 2.5%. Without COP this could have been 4-5%, so at least some progress has been made.
Much of the world’s surface is farmed, and livestock have been seen as a problem as they emit 30% of the world’s global methane emissions as they breathe out. This gas has a comparatively short shelf life compared to carbon dioxide – seven to eight years as opposed to 120 years – but the problem is that it is many times more potent in trapping atmospheric heat. My industry –
dairy – is top of the game for sequestering carbon, and if cows didn’t breathe out methane, we would be the heroes of the hour.
Luckily science is on the case, and there is much work being done on food supplements which, when fed to cows, will reduce methane emission significantly. A finalist in Prince William’s Earth Shot environmental competition, an Australian company called Sea Forest thinks it has a viable solution. They have produced a food supplement for cattle and sheep, made with a native red seaweed called Asparagopsis. Included as a tiny part of an animal’s diet, it claims to reduce methane production by 90%. Cultivating this seaweed also captures carbon, helping to combat ocean acidification. An onfarm trial in France recently found a 29-42% decrease in enteric methane from a feed supplement called Bovaer fed during housed conditions, and the company is currently developing a slow release form to better suit a grazing system.
When you consider that 80% of the UK’s land mass is farmed, and only eight per cent in nature reserves, that 72% is extremely important to meet Government targets. Defra has been very keen for farmers to get together
in clusters and take on large-scalenature recovery projects, funded by Defra and also attracting serious funding from industry mitigation. I’ve recently been to two talks by the Environmental Farmers Group (EFG) who are engaged in largescale nature recovery, based on catchment areas. This project was the brainchild of Teresa Dent of the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT), initially involving farmers in Wiltshire and Hampshire around the River Avon, and it has extended over two years to river catchments in Dorset, Devon and Northampton.
The group hopes to exceed Government targets like habitat preservation
and creation, clean water and carbon storage, delivering environmental improvements at catchment scale. The group now has 250 members, covering 1.5% of the English farmed area.
The EFG is run by a board of ten members, eight farmers and a Natural Capital adviser and a member from GWLT. Membership costs are very reasonable at 50p per hectare with all the farmers involved keen to produce high-quality food that is both environmental and welfare friendly. For investors it provides a single point of contact on a landscape scale – an investible landscape, promising better value, less risk and with international accreditation (IUCN). Funding from industry and house builders has been very significant so far.
On to another serious topic. Like many farmers, I am a keen rugby supporter, though of course being Welsh, it’s Wales I support, not England. Being Welsh and a long-time supporter of our national team, I have been concerned about the recent damning report on the activities of the Welsh Rugby Union regarding prejudice against women and people of colour in particular. Interestingly I came across this
approach way back when we were still in the old Cardiff Arms stadium and my father was a debenture holder. There were loads of men’s loos but only one ladies. At that time, we had Barry John, Gareth Edwards and JPR playing. Wales were brilliant and if you were still queuing for the loo with crossed legs at the end of half time, you could guarantee from the roars of the crowd that you’d just missed a Wales try.
Accordingly, in 1988 I wrote to the WRU asking for more ladies’ loos and I received this incredible reply from the secretary, Ray Williams. “Dear Mrs Collingborn
“Thank you for your letter of 10 October in which you ask me what is being done to expand the number of ladies’ toilets at Cardiff Arms Park from one. The short answer is nothing.”
In those days, prejudice against women was alive and kicking!
Much of the world’s surface is farmed, and livestock have been seen as a problem as they emit 30% of the world’s global methane emissions as they breathe out