Future Options for Carbon Management in Deserts Craig James General Manager Commercialisation and Communications, Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre, Alice Springs, Australia ABARE Conference Alice Springs 29 October 2008

Australia’s deserts Australia is –driest inhabited continent in the world –70% of it is either arid or semi arid land. ‘Deserts’ consist of –Arid zones - average rainfall of 250 mm or less –semi arid zone - average rainfall between mm. Little is known about the carbon cycle in the Australian deserts Arid and semi-arid areas

Projected climate changes Predicted percentage change in annual rainfall by 2050, with respect to 1990 levels Trends in annual maximum, mean and minimum temperature

National and international setting Kyoto Protocol Garnaut report –Green Paper: Investing in research and development on low emissions technologies –Government financial investments ($1.89B) Australia’s National Carbon Accounting system (NCAS): –“system to account for greenhouse emissions from land-based sectors” (Garnaut 2008) Grass roots movements –50/50 by 20/20 –Community owned wind farms

How can deserts position for a carbon economy? 1.Bio-sequestration 2.Deferring greenhouse gas (GHG) release 3.Reducing net CO 2 release from fuels (biofuels) 4.Producing green energy

1. Bio-sequestration Growing carbon ‘hungry’ plants through irrigation –Possible with suitable ground water resources but limited. –Economically uncompetitive (?) Source: Department for the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts

1. Bio-sequestration Carbon storage in soils, plants and dead or decaying matter –Encourage long-lived perennial plants growing on natural rainfall –A new view of the woody weed problem in historically- overgrazed lands –Low growth rates –Low carbon / ha but orders of magnitude more hectares –Economics unknown

2. Deferring GHG release Fire and Pastoral land management –Sequester carbon (stock) or change emission regimes –Value in these as off- sets Photo courtesy Dick Kimber

Fire management West Arnhem Land Fire Abatement Project –Changes in fire regimes to lower emissions and store more carbon WA study to commence –Pilbara region. Arid regions have carbon sequestration potential (Alchin 2007) Need to evaluate options for rangeland management (eg Heckbert 2008) More accurate information of rangeland carbon storage and sink potential needed Photo courtesy CSIRO

Desert wildfires

Strategies for carbon grazing Vegetation recovery under lighter grazing regimes to increase stored carbon in perennial vegetation More stored soil carbon Rotational grazing could achieve these goals –Does extra infrastructure create more CO 2 than is saved? –Cost/benefits are unclear

The question of methane… The main greenhouse gases emitted from agriculture in Australia are methane and nitrous oxide. –Approximately 4% of GHG emissions come from cattle and sheep in rangelands (McKeown 2008)

Pastoral management systems Telemetry technologies bring management data and control of equipment into the homestead. –Less need to drive around – half the number of km per year on bore runs 10,000 km not driven = 3300kg of CO 2 3,000 km not driven = 990 kg of CO 2 –Savings of $25,000-$35,000 in fuel costs

3. Biofuels Transport fuels Power generation (back-up to solar, wind) Creating biofuels as an alternative to fossil fuels –Use ground water resources to grow perennial vegetation –Harvest biomass to make biofuels (seed oil etc) –Renewable local production instead of non-renewable fossil sources –Already being explored by DAFWA SA Farmers Federation guarantee pure bio-diesel 100% carbon neutral. –planting of native mallee trees which soak up carbon dioxide as they grow, acting as a "carbon sink".

Exploratory studies CSIRO Reports findings –The cost of producing biofuels relative to petrol and diesel is the fundamental factor influencing the commercial viability of biofuels –Sustainability is a critical issue for the biofuels industry - there is no point in replacing one unsustainable system with another Department of Rural Industries, Research and Development Corporation: Biofuels in Australia – an overview of issues and prospects June 2007

4. Producing green energy Desert natural resources –Solar power –Geothermal energy

Incident solar energy

Geothermal Central Australian Geothermal Energy Province, with connections into South Australia and Queensland and connecting the national grid Source: Geodynamics. IRM Company ShowPage

Future economy Cost of energySolvablePhotovoltaic Fuel cells (Hydrogen solar) Cost of transportPartially solvable Biofuels perhaps Creator of green energy OpportunityPhotovoltaic, geothermal, high voltage DC Large national infrastructure project Selling carbon storage (offsets) Limited opportunity Already happening Providing jobsOpportunityLivelihoods in land management Installation and maintenance of energy systems Growing plants for bio-sequestration and biofuels