Australia’s credentials in respect of Climate Change at stake?

Australia’s credentials in respect of Climate Change at stake?
(Madan Menon Thottasseri)
______________________________________________

Australia has allegedly wrongly presented its carbon emissions report by ignoring a massive rise in polluting gases from its agricultural and forestry industries, This "misrepresentation" by the Australian Government has already led to severe criticism from all quarters at the UN climate summit in the last week.

ABC reported that Australia had ignored a massive rise in polluting gases but still managed to make its overall emissions seem much lower than factual figures.

Australia under the Kyoto Protocol, is allowed to up carbon emissions by eight per cent compared to the 1990 levels. But as per factual figures say that between 1990 and 2007,the nation's real carbon emissions actually was raised by 82 per cent, the report said. This dramatic increase had mainly been caused by rising emissions from rural lands, caused by bushfires and drought.


Ironically in Australia, Political parties were hopeful of offsetting the rising industrial emissions with the support from the same agricultural, grazing plains and grass lands. In fact Australia had leaded the charge on proposed land use rule changes to the new global climate deal.

The changes will open the door to the bonanza of green carbon that can be stored away in the world's rural lands, the report said. But this move is deeply dividing the Copenhagen conference. Australia and other big players have been accused of a trying to pull off a fort.

Christine Milne, climate change spokesperson for Australian political party, the Australian Greens, said in Copenhagen that the country has been trying to "cook the books".
The United States has always wanted to use Land Use Land Use Change and Forestry as a mechanism for not having to do as much in its fossil fuel sector, and Australia has always been the fall guy for the US," she said. "So I think what you are seeing is the umbrella group, chaired by Australia, including the US, including Canada, trying to really cook the books in some dodgy deals on land use."

"That is not an error. It is actually called Land Use Land Use Change and Forestry. Everything in these negotiations has an acronym -- this one is LULU_CF," she said.
But developing nations fear that with some changes to the existing rules, LULU_CF may be the way that countries like Australia will wriggle out of the reductions currently being negotiated for 2020 greenhouse targets.

A climate scientist for International Rivers network, Payal Parekh, says such loopholes will water down the carbon targets. "It essentially means that developed countries, including Australia, could actually increase their emissions in the next few years," she said.

She said "What it means is that it is a total scam. It appears as if something is done, but it is not. The best way to sum it up is that it is a 'get out of jail free card'".