Climate impacts and responses
The climate change debate will continue for many years, partly because it's hard to differentiate small changes to the climate from the background of large changes in the weather, partly because the future is always uncertain, and partly because of the vested interests in the debate and its now political basis.
However, there’s no doubt the concept of climate change is changing government, business and consumer behavior, and affecting how individuals and industries plan their future resilience and competitive advantage. This section summarises what climate scientists are predicting, Government attempts to reduce emissions, outlines the options for the dairy industry and individual farmers.
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Find out how climate change is impacting on dairy farmers, the agricultural sector, and Australia in general. This section outlines what might happen if the predictions are correct and the climate changes and becomes more variable.
Learn how dairy farmers and the dairy industry can adapt to increased climate variability. This section provides an understanding of the impact of increased climate variability, and outline how the dairy industry and individual farmers might adapt.
Learn about the government’s plans to introduce a price on carbon pollution in Australia from July 2012 and the differences between regulation, direct action and market mechanisms to reduce carbon pollution. This section also explores the Carbon Farming Initiative.
Farm emissions can be reduced in a range of ways – find out how. This section explores dairy farm greenhouse gas emissions and the possible mitigation strategies.
Carbon sequestration (locking up carbon in vegetation and soil) is a key component of the climate change debate – learn how it works, how it’s addressed in the Kyoto Protocol and how it might become part of the Carbon Farming Initiative.
What should dairy farmers do now?
Given all the possibilities and challenges, just what are we recommending dairy farmers do in response?