clearing the

MEDIA RELEASE

Clearing the myths of the 3 Cs

Carbon and Climate Change are words we hear every day and now landholders in the Desert Channels region will get an opportunity to see how it affects them and their business at three 3Cs Information days being held next month.

“There seems to be a lot of miss-information in relation to carbon and climate change and we wanted to give landholder based community members a chance to hear from experts in these fields,” DCQ Industry Liaison Officer Colleen James said.

“This is a great opportunity for landholders to be able to learn more about how these issues will affect them and get their questions answered by climate change experts.”

Grant Stone, a senior scientist from the Queensland Climate Change Centre of Excellence will be speaking on the climate change impacts on livestock carrying capacity.

“The talk will cover a wide range of issues that are likely to influence decisions on grazing,” says Dr Stone, “we will discuss the importance of current developments in climatic systems, science and the use of climate risk assessment in the adaptation process to achieve sustainable rangeland use.”

Dr Chris Stokes is a Systems Ecologist with the CSIRO and will provide an overview of the carbon cycle in the rangelands to show some of the ways in which carbon storage may change the future.

“This will cover some of the ways that land management actions can alter carbon storage but will also show the important role that climate change will play (such as the influence of rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, global warming and changing rainfall).” says Dr Stokes. “The talk will highlight how improving land condition and soil health can provide multiple benefits, and some of the risks, uncertainties and limitations involved in promoting carbon storage in rangelands.”

Senior scientist Dr Steven Bray from DEEDI (DPI) will discuss some of the challenges to developing a whole-property greenhouse gas budget using a hypothetical case study property.

“In the age of the ‘carbon economy’, grazing businesses need to have a good understanding of their greenhouse gas budget in order to be able to contribute to the debate and policy development regarding the reduction of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions,” says Dr Bray, “We will explore the impact of some of the management options on the whole-property greenhouse gas budget.”

3 Cs information days are being held at the Prairie Town Hall on Wednesday 13th May, the Winton Matilda Centre on Thursday 14th May and the Barcaldine Main Roads Training Centre on Friday 15th May, all days run from 9:30 am -2:30 pm and include smoko and lunch.

These information days are an initiative of DCQ in partnership with the Dalrymple Landcare Committee and are funded by the Queensland Government’s Blueprint for the Bush Program. For more information please contact Colleen James on phone 07 4658 0600, mobile 0428 580 998 or email colleen.james@dcq.org.au.
 

ENDS

20 April 2009