As we move towards a vegan agricultural system in Australia, carbon farming will be an important way to reuse some of the 54% of Australian land currently used by the animal agriculture industries.

Vegan Australia welcomes news from the Western Australian government that farmers will now be paid to capture carbon on their properties. Not only will this help draw down carbon from the atmosphere and sequester it in soil and vegetation, it will also provide native habitat for endangered species, increase biodiversity, reduce wind and water erosion and soil loss, reduce salinisation and improve water quality.

The Western Australian scheme, part of the Commonwealth Emissions Reduction Fund, provides a financial mechanism for farmers to improve the land and gives Australia a way forward to move away of animal farming towards a vegan agricultural system. The scheme covers a 25 year period and will provide up to $70 million.

The scheme uses the human induced regeneration (HIR) method which is designed to regenerate forest cover on cleared land and encourages the growth of Australian native tree species that are indigenous to the local area. This can be done by excluding livestock from the land and/or other methods.

While the current scheme is not designed to replace animal farming, Vegan Australia sees it as a model for future systemic changes that assist Australian agriculture to move completely away from animal farming.

This is an historic shift towards rehabilitating lands that have been degraded by animal farming for many decades.

Links

• Media statement by Western Australian government
• Article in The West Australian newspaper
• Human-induced regeneration of a permanent even-aged native forest, Emissions Reduction Fund