Canada will spend another $500 million on projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and move the country closer to meeting international commitments.
Natural resources minister Ralph Goodale said the measures announced earlier this month in Action Plan 2000 will take Canada one-third of the way to achieving targets set in the Kyoto Protocol.
Under that protocol, Canada is supposed to reduce emissions to six percent below 1990 levels by the period 2008-2012.
The action plan includes initiatives in sectors that produce more than 90 percent of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions – transportation, energy, industry, buildings, forestry and agriculture.
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Farmers will be expected to play a major role in helping the country reach its targets.
Industry role
Agriculture accounts for 10 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, but will be on the hook for 20 percent of the reductions.
Transportation causes 25 percent of emissions, but will only be expected to contribute 10 percent of the reductions.
“We notice that this is a disproportionate amount of the overall reductions which, if achieved, needs to be recognized by the federal government,” Roger Larson, president of the Canadian Fertilizer Institute, said in a news release. “Farmers can’t be expected to do it alone.”
The fertilizer industry will also play a role, since one of the six greenhouse gases – nitrous oxide – is emitted when farmers use chemical fertilizers.
“Nitrous oxides from fertilizers, and manure and methane from livestock account for 96 percent of agriculture emissions,” stated the action plan.
The plan lists four agricultural measures: nutrient management, livestock management, soil management and demonstration farms.
The livestock management plan includes promoting best practices in manure storage and handling.
The demonstration farms will study how the carbon content of soils can be enhanced and agricultural emissions reduced.
Canada is negotiating to have agricultural soils recognized as carbon sinks in the Kyoto Protocol. Goodale said that is a priority for an international meeting on climate change in The Hague next month.
The action plan initiatives will be discussed with the industries involved and fine-tuned over the next few months before they are implemented.
