Kyoto Protocol or Kyoto Treaty:
This is an agreement made in 1997 under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The countries that have endorsed this agreement have committed to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

Carbon Dioxide:
This is a chemical compound made up of one carbon atom and two oxygen atoms and is referred to as CO2. Carbon dioxide is present in the Earth’s atmosphere in low concentrations and acts as a greenhouse gas.

Greenhouse Gases:
Greenhouse gases are components of the atmosphere that contribute to the greenhouse effect. Water vapour, carbon dioxide (CO2), methane, nitrous oxide and ozone are the major gases that contribute to the greenhouse effect.
There are natural levels of these gases in the atmosphere that are in balanced and necessary for life on Earth. When there is an imbalance of these gases and the levels are much higher many climatic problems are encountered and their effects are felt at ground level on Earth.

Greenhouse Effect:
Sunlight strikes the Earth’s surface, some is absorbed and some sunlight is reflected back out into space. When this reflected light encounters greenhouse gases it is absorbed and converted to heat, it is not allowed to escape harmlessly back into space and an overall increase in the Earth’s temperature is detectable.

Carbon:
Carbon is a chemical element and is the basis of the chemistry of life as we know it.

Biomass:
Biomass is a part of the carbon cycle, atmospheric carbon is converted to biological matter by photosynthesis, do decay or consumption of the biomass carbon is returned to the atmosphere.
Although fossil fuels have their origins in ancient biomass they are no longer considered to be biomass because they contain carbon that has been out of the carbon cycle for a very long time. Therefore the consumption of fossil fuel now disturbs the carbon dioxide content in the atmosphere.

Soil Organic Matter:
Comprises all the dead and decomposing plants, animals and microbes in the soil along with organic residues and humus substances they release. Soil microbes, especially fungi and small animals are also a part of the organic make up of a soil

The Carbon Cycle
The amount of carbon on Earth is constant and the path carbon flows through the environment is referred to as the carbon cycle.
A very quick overview of this cycle is plants use sunlight to produce biomass, in this process carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere. Some of the biomass is then eaten by animals and carbon dioxide is again exhaled into the atmosphere. Decaying plant matter may also be held in the soils as organic matter as well where fungi and microbes use the carbon for their purposes. Oceans may also dissolve a significant amount of carbon too.

This is a very simple description of the carbon cycle but the idea here is that carbon is easily transformed in many ways around the earth.

Climate Change:
This refers to the variation in the Earth’s global climate over time. These changes can be caused by natural forces or human activities. The term “Climate Change” has recently come to mean changes in modern climate which includes the increase in average surface temperature.

Global Warming:
This is the observed increase in average temperature of the Earth’s atmosphere and oceans in recent decades and the projected continuation of these increasing temperatures.

Carbon Trading or Emission Trading Scheme:
An emission trading scheme is permitted if countries maintain or increase their emissions of greenhouse gases. This scheme would allow the trading of permits to emit carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

A country has a known cap on greenhouse gas emissions. The issuing of permits to that country’s industry grants a business in the country the right to emit a stated amount of greenhouse gas over time. Businesses that exceed the amount of credit they possess incur penalties. Extra credits may be bought or unused credits may be sold to balance the greenhouse gas emissions within the country.

A credit shortage would in turn lead to an increase in the price of credits. This price increase would then make it economically profitable to engage ways to decrease carbon production for the offending business.

Carbon Sequestration:
This is the process that removes carbon from the atmosphere to help moderate global warming. There a variety of ways of artificially capturing and storing carbon as well as enhancing natural sequestration processes.

Carbon Dioxide Sink:
These are carbon reserves that are increasing in size. The main natural carbon sinks are oceans

Carbon Credits:
One carbon credit is equal to one tonne of carbon dioxide emission reduced. Carbon credit certificates are used for trading and may be exchanged on an international market

Reference for the above terms is from Wikipedia at the web address en.wikipedia.org

Carbon Emissions Trading and Old Man Saltbush

During the last 200 years of industrial activity here on Earth, mankind has collectively converted a significant portion of fixed, stored Earth-bound carbon into the gas, carbon dioxide (CO2). Carbon dioxide gas being a light compound drifts upwards and settles in the atmosphere.

Modern day to day activities have inadvertently but steadily added to the bank of atmospheric carbon dioxide. This increase in greenhouse gases has now reached a point where its influence has become rather noticeable back on ground level.

A quick outline of the situation is as follows; when sunlight strikes the Earth’s surface a percentage of light warms the environment or is absorbed and used by the plants and animals. This process ensures the continuation of life as we have come to know it. The excess sunlight is ordinarily reflected back out into space.

When these reflected sun rays encounter the extra carbon dioxide gas in the atmosphere, they are converted into heat instead of escaping back out into space and here is where the excessive global warming problems originate. This extra heat remains trapped within the Earth’s system where slowly but surely the entire globe is just a little warmer as each day passes.

Warming weather then turns into instable weather, so to put it very simply, over time we all experience less dependable and more extreme local weather conditions. Extended droughts in some areas, more frequent flooding in others, both being costly and demoralizing. Bush fires may also be encountered more frequently and storms can be more regular and intense.

No single weather event is able to be labelled a global warming incident in isolation but collectively weather patterns have been observed and deductions are becoming more and more obvious as time goes on. There are very few scientists in the 21st century that will truthfully reject the existence of the global warming crisis we are facing today.

The former US Vice President Mr Al Gore’s thought provoking seminar/film called “The Inconvenient Truth” has had a sobering effect around the world to the point where politicians can no longer dismiss the scientific reality of human-induced climate change.

Mr Gore has simply and clearly stated the state of play in relation to climate change. He has impressed upon viewers the urgency for action. There is no denying the climate tends he very graphically illustrates are only going to continue to increase in the future.

In Kyoto, Japan in 1997 a United Nations Convention on Climate Change produced an agreement we have come to know as the Kyoto Protocol. Here countries have jointly agreed to address the emerging environmental crisis and atmospheric carbon dioxide reduction is sited as an intended goal.

Associated with this United Nations agreement is a Carbon Emissions Trading Scheme. Countries who support the Kyoto Protocol have agreed to co-operate with a trading system that is designed to foster economic habits rewarding business activity working towards reducing atmospheric carbon and lessening industrial impact on the Earth.

As greenhouse gases are removed from the atmosphere via carbon sinks and “Carbon Credits” are awarded to people and groups actively removing the carbon from the sky. Any additional greenhouse gas emissions must be offset by greater emission cuts elsewhere or the sinking of the carbon within this Carbon Emissions Trading Scheme.

Australian farmers are finding themselves in an encouraging position as a part of the solution to this very serious global problem. Farmers have access to wide open spaces as well as various depths and fertility of soils. While everyone else is reducing the amount of carbon they release into the atmosphere. Farmers may also trap the offending extra atmospheric carbon and store it in their plants and also in their soil.

Apparently the Earth is not big enough to grow enough forests to capture and store all the excess carbon present in the atmosphere; therefore a second strategy needs to be engaged to maintain the carbon at ground level. Holding carbon in the soil as organic matter is an additional strategy to overcome this problem.

Photosynthesis converts sunlight and carbon dioxide into plant matter which in turn is eaten by other organisms or falls to the ground and adds to the soil organic layer. In creating a carbon bank on farm it is the landowner who decides in what from the carbon is stored. Good soil management and deep rooted perennial vegetation are recommended for the purpose of carbon storage.

Old Man Saltbush was specifically declared by the United Nations as a suitable plant for sequestering atmospheric carbon. This plant’s unique conversion efficiency of the atmospheric carbon gas to plant material uses less oxygen, nutrients and water, with minimum destruction to the plant’s own living tissue during the process. This functioning efficiency is incredible! For this reason alone old man saltbush cannot be overlooked for inclusion in any carbon sequestration scheme to address the problems of global greenhouse warming.

In rainfall areas of up to 650mm per annum “de Kock’ Old Man Saltbush will sink the most carbon per hectare within a reasonable time scale. Even the best trees in inland Australia would possibly take around 20 years to sink as much carbon as saltbush does in three years. To an Australian farmer and grazier this is great news, there now seems an opportunity to grow a plantation of Old Man Saltbush for grazing stock as well as collecting the carbon credit payment for storing the carbon on the agricultural property too.
Carbon Emissions Trading is a very new concept and actual figures on tonnes of carbon per hectare stored and price per tonne of stored carbon is only speculative for the time being.

It has been estimated that ‘De Kock’ Old Man Saltbush stores around 15 to 20 tonnes of carbon per hectare, when grown in favourable conditions, once it has been established for three years.
John Williams, Commissioner for Natural Resources NSW, has conservatively mentioned a price in 2007 of $25/tonne payment for storage of carbon for a ten year period.

These very rough “ball-park figures” may help to give a slightly clearer picture about the carbon trading benefits of Old Man Saltbush plantations they may come about sooner rather than later.