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Working within a Carbon sensitive economy
For the first time the human race is truly facing its own mortality. As awareness of this becomes more general humans are demanding change to protect the lives of their descendants and as that is happening a new marketplace is being born. We have learnt that our climate is not something that we can take for granted but something that must be managed, just like most other things in our lives.
Whatever instability and distortions emerge as the new carbon sensitive economy gets underway the basics should come through in the end. It seems certain that everyone will need to plan for an environment where the emitting of carbon dioxide will involve a cost and where the removal of carbon dioxide may attract an income.
This is happening already, even though the only true international agreement for doing something about climate change, the Kyoto protocol, does not come into force until 2008. Even in the only two developed countries outside Kyoto, the USA and Australia, the environmental cost of emitting carbon is gradually becoming factored into everyday business. The cost of carbon dioxide emissions, even under Kyoto is not some sort of Government imposition. The price, about $30/tonne at the moment, is set entirely by the market and reflects how much human’s figure their survival is worth.
Life with regard to carbon emissions has huge implications for everyone, particularly landowners, the sector with which this paper is mainly concerned. For example, when we were pastoral farming, we emitted about 2000 tonnes per annum of carbon dioxide which is worth about $60,000 per annum. That would have been the environmental cost, as reckoned by society, of us producing our meat and wool. Another example could be where a landowner wishes to deforest to go back to pastoral farming. A mature forest can store up to 600 tonnes/Ha carbon dioxide so the environmental costs of making the change could be about $18000Ha.
At the moment landowners are not liable for these costs but we think it is unlikely that will continue to be the case. We would suggest that the taxpayer seems happy to pay these sorts of subsidy only because they, as yet, don’t know that they are doing so. Surely eventually they will insist that the costs fall where they lie. If they do, farmers who might presently be congratulating themselves that they have avoided their responsibilities may find that they end up with the costs without having had the advantage of the benefits.
Another problem for farmers is that, as environmental costs work their way into transport, freight will become more expensive. As an export orientated country far away from most of its markets these changes will effect NZ business more than most.
Perhaps the change with the most implications for traditional land use will be the inevitable change in consumer attitudes. Consumers are starting to prefer products that have not travelled so far all other things being equal and maybe even if they are not equal.
Attitude change is not likely to be restricted to those matters directly concerned with climate change. As the huge magnitude of our environmental blunder becomes apparent people are likely to become more sensitive to other problems such as air and water quality. Land use is very much connected to those issues. If landowners do not change their ways willingly then change will be forced upon them. Like everyone else in the community landowners not only need to act sustainably but also be prepared to demonstrate that they are, to survive.
On the other hand change brings opportunity for those who are able and willing to adapt to new circumstance. Society is finally getting around to accepting that a good environment is essential for them to survive, let alone maintain a healthy economy. Landowners can help to provide that good environment. They can provide products that do not make things worse or more positively provide products that will make things better. They will need to establish that the business of saving our environment should be like any other in that, where a landowner provides a service for the good of others then the landowner is entitled to a return. And the best way of doing that is by showing that while they may have been part of the problem they are now very much part of the solution.
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