CR-LU3
Sustainability Committee
Inquiry into Carbon Reduction in Wales: Rural Land Use Management and Carbon Reduction
Response from: Response from RSPB Cymru
General Questions
1. Is the proposed 3 per cent annual reduction target by 2011 'in areas of devolved competence' sufficient to enable Wales to make its full contribution to meeting UK-wide targets? If not, what targets should be put in place?
An initial general point to be made is that while the Welsh Assembly Government One Wales emission reduction target is expressed in terms of carbon equivalence, ie all six of the principal greenhouse gases, the forthcoming UK Climate Change Act targets are for carbon dioxide (CO2) only. A significant proportion of direct emissions from the agriculture and rural land use sectors are of methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O), thus limiting these sectors' potential contributions to likely forthcoming UK targets.
UK Targets
The Committee on Climate Change has recently recommended that the 2050 UK CO2 emissions reduction target, which will acquire legal force through its inclusion in the forthcoming Climate Change Act, be increased from 60% to 80% from 1990 levels. This new figure suggests that the corresponding UK CO2 reduction target for 2020 might be increased to c40% from the earlier proposed range of 26/32%, not least to reflect the science-driven necessity for deeper cuts in the immediate years ahead.
However, the Climate Change Act possible 40% CO2 reduction target by 2020 from 1990 levels looks unlikely to be achieved in Wales with current policies and practices. Total Welsh production-based CO2 emissions in 2006 were only 1.8% below the 1990 baseline year and were at their highest level since 2001. The Assembly Government Renewable Energy Route Map suggests a possible greenhouse gas emissions reduction of c20% from 1990 levels, largely from non-devolved energy generation; most of this would be CO2, but would still leave the non-devolved sector well short of the likely UK target. This would leave the remaining 20% to be met by the business sector together with the devolved sectors.
However, the relatively small CO2 component limits the contribution that agriculture in Wales will be able to make to the Climate Change Act reduction target.
EU Targets for UK
The EU is likely to set the UK a greenhouse gas emission reduction target of 16% by 2020 from 2005 levels in areas not covered by the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). This target would require Wales to achieve such a reduction in just nine years from the One Wales start date of 2011, which the 3% target arithmetically would be able to deliver.
The One Wales emission reduction target 'in areas of devolved competence', including agriculture and land use, accounts for around 40% of total Welsh greenhouse gas emissions. Around 60% of Welsh emissions - from electricity generation and from the business sector, including iron and steel manufacture, refineries and cement manufacture - are largely excluded from the Assembly Government's areas of competence. Emissions from these areas will be subject to limits and reduction through the EU ETS, contributing to the EU target for an overall reduction in greenhouse gases of 20% in member countries by 2020 from 1990 levels.
Meeting the One Wales Target
Emissions from the agriculture sector are principally of methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O): CH4 accounted for 64% of total direct Welsh agriculture emissions in 2005 and N2O for 36%. In addition, there are indirect CO2 emissions from on-farm electricity use, manufacture of fertilisers and similar activities. These emissions from agriculture represent about 11% of the Welsh production-based carbon-equivalent total.
The land use, land use change and forestry sector (LULUCF) currently makes a net contribution to carbon reduction, via soil and forestry-based sinks. The percentage reduction in 2005, at only 0.4%, is very small, but Welsh soils are calculated to hold some 410MtC, or more than 30 times recent annual Welsh carbon emissions from all sources. The scope for increasing this contribution to carbon emissions reduction will depend upon land management measures being taken to increase the capacity of organic and peat soils to sequester carbon from the atmosphere.
The principal contribution from rural land use to meeting the Assembly Government's 3% annual carbon-equivalent greenhouse gas emissions reduction target will therefore need to come from agriculture, especially from the livestock sector. However, land use management will need to ensure that adequate policies and practices are in place to maintain the carbon retention capabilities of Welsh soils, especially organic and peat soils.
It is recommended that the Welsh Climate Change Commission ensure appropriate regard to the contribution of agriculture and land use to carbon emission reduction in the preparation of the new Climate Change Programme or Strategy for Wales. Carbon-sensitive management of soils will be a crucial element in any overall carbon reduction programme for Wales. Globally, some 50% of current levels of human-induced carbon emissions are absorbed by soils, bogs, forests, general vegetation and oceans.
It is difficult to predict how climate change may affect soils in Wales and their continuing capacity to store carbon at recent historical rates; however, erosion and drying are expected to increase, reducing the capacity of soil to store carbon.
2. Should the emission reduction target be based on Welsh consumption, or production, or both (ie, should it take into consideration the carbon dioxide generated in Wales (production), or the carbon dioxide emissions that Wales' residents are responsible for, regardless of their source (consumption))?
The chosen methodology for measuring emission reductions is clearly contingent upon purpose; both the production and the consumption measures have value in context. For international comparative purposes, including targets, the production method is currently used by all governments and organisations - Wales, therefore, needs to have figures and targets for production-based emissions.
However, from a sustainability perspective, the consumption-based approach gives a more accurate picture of the Welsh contribution to global emissions, being a figure that is net of imports and exports of greenhouse gases from domestic or overseas carbon-generating activities. The production approach fails to measure the contribution to global carbon emissions of manufactures imported to Wales from other countries, eg China. Equally, however, because of the significant contribution of iron and steel manufacture in Wales to carbon emissions, much of which is exported from Wales, the production measure gives an exaggerated measure of the Welsh contribution to global carbon emissions in terms of resource consumption to support how we live.
Questions specific to carbon dioxide reduction and rural land use management
3, 4, 5. Challenges to rural land managers in Wales in reducing CO2 emissions; the extent to which WAG has used its powers to reduce CO2 emissions from rural land use; what opportunities does WAG have to help rural land managers?
These three questions inter-link and we suggest are therefore best addressed together.
Two further general points need to be made: the term 'rural land managers' is understood to include 'farmers'; and emissions should be understood to include all six of the designated greenhouse gases, not just CO2 - agriculture is the principal source of CH4 and N2O emissions; the One Wales target is expressed in terms of carbon equivalence, ie inclusive of all greenhouse gases.
It is also worth noting that the IPCC attributes to CH4 a warming multiplier by volume of 21 compared to CO2 and to N2O a multiplier of 310.
The principal challenge to rural land managers, including farmers, is to adopt a 'carbon culture' in their approach to land management. In other words, land managers need to understand the carbon consequences of their various activities and to be committed to minimising carbon losses to the atmosphere. To assist with this necessary culture change, it might be that farmers in particular need to receive some form of financial recognition for adding carbon conservation to their environmental responsibilities, alongside biodiversity and habitat protection and enhancement.
Such culture change could be delivered via adaptations to existing agri-environment schemes, to include soil and vegetation carbon conservation objectives. It has also been suggested that WAG should consider setting up a 'cap and trade' scheme for soil carbon emissions and sequestration - but how would it be measured at individual site level? A related suggestion, but with the same practical implications, is for inclusion of land use carbon management in the next development phase of the EU ETS.
Best practice guidelines funded through agri-environment schemes look a more viable option than 'cap and trade' - it would only be necessary for land managers to show that they were observing science-based guidelines to qualify for carbon-related payments. Payments would be related to soil types, presumably with some kind of calculation based upon opportunity cost.
6. Could alternative targeting of Welsh Assembly Government financial resources lead to greater carbon dioxide emissions reductions within the context of rural land use than are currently being achieved? If so, where could additional resources lead to greatest impact?
Introducing carbon management as an objective to be delivered through agri-environment schemes will entail an additional financial cost: farmers and land managers will seek payment for the additional responsibilities and possible costs involved; and additional monitoring by WAG officials will be needed to ensure compliance.
Other forms of land management apart from agri-environment schemes also need to be recognised and supported. The LIFE Active Blanket Bog in Wales project (see Q9 below) was the last project funded in the UK through LIFE and is the only LIFE project in Wales. In 2007 the LIFE programme was replaced by LIFE+ .
The EU LIFE+ Programme 2007-2013 is a dedicated EU funding instrument for the environment which complements the existing funding arrangements (European Regional Development Fund, European Social Fund, Cohesion Fund, European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development, Competitiveness & Innovation Programme, European Fisheries Fund and the 7th EU Research Framework Programme).
With a budget of €2.143 billion (for the period 2007-2013), LIFE+ is a limited but focused funding instrument. It is vital that in the future funding is available to manage land to improve peat soil condition and hence carbon sequestration from the atmosphere
In this context, we would suggest that the Welsh Climate Change Commission advise WAG to create a specific climate change budget, with a view to identifying expenditures across various heads required to deliver the One Wales emission reduction target.
7. What examples from other administrations (devolved, UK and overseas), where other means have been used to achieve reductions in carbon dioxide emissions from rural land use, could be adopted in Wales under current powers?
The Australian Government has made provision for tax deductions to meet the costs of land managers who plant trees to sequester atmospheric CO2. Further details can be found at: http://www.climatechange.gov.au/land/index.html
8. In the context of the Government of Wales Act 2006, which further means of reducing carbon dioxide emissions from rural land use could only be achieved with the introduction of further legislative competence for the National Assembly for Wales?
We are not aware of the need for further legislative powers in the rural land use policy area.
9. How can land managers in rural areas contribute towards the Welsh Assembly Government's 3% reduction targets and how much reduction in CO2 in Wales could realistically be achieved through improved land management?
As noted above, agriculture in Wales accounts for 11% of total greenhouse gas emissions; it is the most significant source sector for methane (58% of the Welsh total) and of nitrous oxide (80% of the Welsh total).
The largest single source of CH4 emissions in Wales is enteric fermentation from livestock (90% of CH4 emissions from the agriculture sector) with the remainder coming from animal wastes. Emissions from agriculture are largely dependent on livestock numbers, and have declined by 3.3% since 1990 in line with the decrease in sheep and cattle numbers. Nitrous oxide emissions from agricultural soils have fallen by 19% since 1990.
The LULUCF sector contains both sources and sinks of CO2, as well as small sources of CH4 and N2O. Wales is a net sink of CO2 from LULUCF activities, and the size of this sink has only slightly reduced between 1990 and 2006.
Land management for carbon conservation needs to encompass the following objectives:
soil carbon conservation, ie maintaining soils in conditions favourable to carbon retention
additional CO2 sequestration in soils and vegetation, eg through the wetting of degraded peat soils to encourage additional carbon retention
best carbon retention practice on organic soils
farm woodland management
creation of new farm woodlands
creation of new wetlands
Drainage, deep ploughing and fertiliser application can all have the effect of increasing CO2 and N2O emissions. Organic soils lost carbon at an annual rate of 2% between 1978 and 2003. Further management actions that would encourage soil carbon retention include:
no new drainage and impeding existing drainage
limiting livestock numbers
no burning
fertiliser application should be solid manure only
permanent pasture should be encouraged
LIFE: Restoring active blanket bog in Wales
The RSPB, in partnership with CCW, the Environment Agency Wales and the Forestry Commission Wales, has been engaged in a LIFE funded project aimed at restoring active blanket bog in the Berwyn and Migneint Special Areas of Conservation (SACs).
Although large areas of blanket bog still occur in Wales, the majority have been seriously degraded through afforestation, encroachment by alien species, such as Rhododendron and Sitka Spruce, over-grazing, drainage and either deliberate or accidental burning.
During the project, significant and sustained improvement in the condition of blanket bogs in key areas of two SACs is intended. A core project site is the RSPB Lake Vyrnwy reserve in Powys, where c100km of moorland drain is being blocked. Intensive monitoring of the impacts of this work upon vegetation and hydrology is being carried out leading, it is hoped, to production of a carbon budget for the project work. This would attempt to estimate the impacts of ditch blocking work upon levels of carbon exchange in peat soils at a landscape scale.
The research findings should help to inform future policy and actions that can be taken in Wales to improve peat soil condition and hence carbon sequestration from the atmosphere.
References
Greenhouse Gas Inventories 1990 - 2006; AEA Energy & Environment, September 2008
Measuring Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Wales: the Consumption and Production Approaches Compared; Welsh Climate Change Commission, October 2008
One Wales; WAG, June 2007
Policy Options: Development and Appraisal for Reducing GHG Emissions in Wales; AEA Energy & Environment, May 2008
Renewable Energy Route Map for Wales - Consultation; WAG, February 2008
Renewable Energy Strategy - Consultation; BERR, June 2008
Setting a Baseline for Reductions in GHG Emissions; Welsh Climate Change Commission, October 2008
Sinks, stores and soils - conserving land-based carbon; EA Wales and National Trust, January 2008
Sustainable Farming and Environment - Action Towards 2020; WAG, July 2008
Sustaining the Land, RDP, Axis 2; WAG, September 2008
16 October 2008
