Kangaroo farming would cut greenhouse gases: study

Michael Perry, Reuters 7 Aug 08;

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Farming kangaroos instead of sheep and cattle in Australia could cut by almost a quarter the greenhouse gases produced by grazing livestock, which account for 11 percent of the nation's annual emissions, said a new study.

Removing seven million cattle and 36 million sheep by 2020 and replacing them with 175 million kangaroos, to produce the same amount of meat, could lower national greenhouse gases by 3 percent a year, said the University of New South Wales study.

Methane from the foregut of cattle and sheep constitutes 11 percent of Australia's total greenhouse emissions, but kangaroos produce negligible amounts of methane, said the study.

The study said methane was a principal concern in climate change because more than 500 million metric tons of the gas entered the atmosphere annually, which exceeds the amount that can be naturally removed.

Methane's warming potential over a 100-year time frame is 21 times higher than that of carbon dioxide, but its chemical lifetime in the atmosphere is only 8 to 12 years compared with carbon dioxide's 100 years.

"Therefore, reducing methane production is an attractive short-term target for mitigating global warming," said the study published in the latest edition of the international journal "Conservation Letters".

However, the study said changing farming practices in Australia, which is one of the world's top wool and beef producers but sells by comparison only small amounts of kangaroo meat for human consumption, would not be easy.

"The change will require large cultural and social adjustments and reinvestment. One of the impediments to change is protective legislation and the status of kangaroos as a national icon," it said.

The kangaroo is on Australia's coat of arms, but farmers regard the country's 34 million kangaroos as pests that compete for grazing pastures with sheep and cattle.

Australia is trying to develop a carbon emissions trading system by 2010, but the government has said agriculture would be excluded from the scheme.

Australia's greenhouse emissions totals 576 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, or about 1.5 percent of world emissions. But Australia emits 28.1 metric tons of carbon per person, the highest per capita in the developed world and five times more per person than China, due to use of coal for electricity.

Transport and energy accounts for the largest amount of emissions, at 69.6 percent, with agriculture creating 15.6 percent. Sheep and cattle alone produce 10.9 percent of emissions.

The study said farmers had few options to reduce greenhouse gas emissions other than changing feed stock, reducing livestock numbers or changing species. The study cited the growth of wildlife industries such as springbok farming in South Africa, red deer in Britain and bison in the United States.

"Using kangaroos to produce low-emission meat is an option for the Australian rangelands...and could even have global application," said the study.

(Editing by David Fogarty)

Kangaroo Meat Could Help Australia Cut Gas Emissions
Dave Hansford, National Geographic News 22 Aug 08;

Replacing much of Australia's beef and veal with kangaroo meat could significantly cut the continent's greenhouse gas emissions and save its native terrain, according to a new proposal.

A recent study suggests phasing out some 7 million cattle and 36 million sheep from Australian rangelands—semiarid land that doesn't naturally produce the grass that grazing animals require—and replacing them with kangaroos.

Because of their unique gut microbes, kangaroos emit much less methane than sheep and cattle, said lead author George Wilson, of Canberra consultancy Australian Wildlife Services.

"Methane is a very dangerous greenhouse gas—much more potent than carbon dioxide," he said.

Sheep and cattle are responsible for about 11 percent of Australian agricultural emissions, according to a government survey. Each cow produces 1.84 metric tons of greenhouse gas equivalents a year, and each sheep gives off more than 300 pounds (140 kilograms).

Kangaroos, meanwhile, emit less than seven pounds (three kilograms) of greenhouse gases. Under the study's proposal, that could translate into savings of 16 million tons of greenhouse gases annually—or 3 percent of Australia's total emissions.

The findings were published online last month in the journal Conservation Letters.

Profitable Pests?

Wilson estimated some 30 million kangaroos (including red kangaroos) already roam Australia's rangelands, where farmers typically regard them as pests. His proposal calls for the rangelands to be filled with five or six times that number.

The animals would become an asset to farmers, he said, if Australia includes agriculture—the sector that emits the most methane and nitrous oxide—in its Emissions Trading Scheme, a system the government is devising to impose charges on greenhouse polluters.

The government hopes to implement the scheme by 2010 but says it will not include agricultural emissions for another five years at least because of the difficulty in measuring them.

Wilson said the emissions saved by raising kangaroos could be worth about $650 million Australian (U.S. $570 million), based on current European carbon prices.

The impact would be strongest if livestock owners were required to purchase carbon permits to keep raising cattle and sheep, although such a scheme is far from being determined.

"If we let the kangaroo population rise to 175 million by 2020, farmers could be earning the same amount of money as they would be from cattle without that charge," he said.

"Completely Different Farming"

Peter Ampt, of the University of New South Wales, said Wilson's proposal "would require a completely different farming model."

Ampt, who is not involved with the study but is aligned with the cause, said: "Kangaroos are highly mobile and they don't herd very easily, so if you tried to apply a conventional farming model to kangaroos, there are a few obstacles."

The proposal would require farmers to "manage" kangaroos under a quota system as a wild resource, he said.

"It's a good model for conservation on private land," he added, because kangaroos would become valued instead of being regarded as pests.

"It costs an awful lot to run sheep and cattle on rangelands," he added. "You've got to maintain fences, stock water, you've got to bring them all in regularly and drench and vaccinate them. You don't have to do any of that with kangaroos."

Ampt also said conventional grazing has been "responsible for the loss a whole raft of small animals—bilbies and betongs and all those little creatures, which were incredibly important ecosystem engineers."

But How's It Taste?

The Australian government says kangaroo meat is increasingly popular.

Already available in Australian supermarkets, the meat could also be at grocer near you. The industry estimates that it exports to more than 55 countries and is looking for growth in the U.S. and Asian markets.

Ampt said the meat is "not unlike venison."

According to a government fact sheet, the meat's "growing appeal stems from its well-flavoured, slightly gamey taste."

Industry groups have posted free recipes online, and Ampt offered a little advice of his own.

"The way to cook it on a barbie," Ampt said, referring to a barbeque grill, "is you role it in some olive oil with a bit of garlic and a few herbs, and then you sear it on the barbie lightly, then let it sit for a while. It's really delicious."