Wool, lamb, and beef farmer Mark Wootton
A delegation of farming and forestry leaders has left Australia for COP27 in Egypt, with the mission to demonstrate how climate smart farming and forestry can help Australia bring down its emissions and fight climate change, while boosting much needed food, fibre and timber production. Source: Timberbiz
The delegation includes National Farmers Federation and Australian Forest Products Association representatives, as well as Victorian red meat and timber farmer Mark Wootton and representatives from the Macdoch Foundation and Sea Forest.
“Our goal is that farming and forestry are better recognised in national and global policy as solutions to help Australia reach its climate targets and help the world fight climate change. We will be on the ground to turn the dial on policy,” NFF President Fiona Simson said.
“Australian farmers have a remarkable track record of adopting new practices to drive down emissions, and we have ambitious targets to go further. We need to ensure our efforts are recognised by policymakers globally, who should be looking to Australia as an exemplar for climate-smart farming.”
The delegation has organised and is involved with a number of events to demonstrate how sustainable farming and farm forestry in particular can deliver in the global fight.
“Much of the world has already turned to growing trees to mitigate carbon emissions, but with national and global timber and wood fibre demand booming and supplies stretched, we need to encourage a greater take-up of planting production trees specifically to supply sustainable timber and wood fibre for the future,” AFPA Chair Diana Gibbs said.
“One way to do that is encourage farmers and landholders to dedicate more of their properties to tree production, where they can realise tree created benefits for other agricultural enterprises, like red meat production. Trees can also help farming operations achieve carbon neutrality. At COP we will aim to join these dots and advocate to Australian policymakers and to other global players.”
The delegation will be on the ground at COP27 in Egypt for the next week.
