Policy options to manage greenhouse gas emissions from the livestock sector: an Australian perspective

The interface between policy and science provides rich opportunity to frame both the policy and science agendas for the reduction of emissions of greenhouse gases from agriculture. The current Greenhouse Gas in Animal Agriculture Conference (2007) provides a valuable forum for the development and integration of the two. Compared with the level of investments worldwide into technologies to reduce emissions from energy generation and transport, investments into managing and reducing emissions from the agriculture and land sectors have lagged, sadly, far behind. Nonetheless, there still remains strong opportunity to reduce substantially the net emissions from the land-based sector while also improving productivity and financial return (both short and long term). Over the past few decades, it has probably been the science agenda that provided the main impetus for understanding the management of processes that give rise to greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture and for improving management options to reduce these emissions. However, recently a range of new policy approaches (both in Australia and elsewhere) have come into play, and these approaches are now demanding a greater suite and possibly a different set of information from science – and over a short timeframe – to provide the technical means for change to be implemented. The challenge for science is to understand the new demands from the policy agendas, and to resolve how the science community can best deliver what is required. In this way science will be delivering additional benefits to agricultural industries and rural communities as activities in the land-based sector align with national interest and opportunities.