Office for Environmental Programs - Theses

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    Meat and dairy: contributions to climate change
    Keele, Svenja ( 2011)
    This literature review draws on peer-reviewed and other publications to explore how the rearing of livestock and the consumption of meat and dairy products contributes to global warming, and the ways we might mitigate these emissions. It describes how the impact of livestock on climate change has emerged as a controversial new angle on a long-running critique of the environmental, and other, impacts associated with domestic livestock and our consumption of meat and dairy. The essay also discusses how emissions arising from farming and eating domestic livestock can be quantified from both `farm (or `production') and `fork' (or `consumption') perspectives, and shows how the selection of accounting methods has a significant influence on the level of impact ascribed to livestock overall as well as the relative contributions by different animals and farming systems. A range of solutions to mitigate these emissions is put forward in the literature. These include technological initiatives to achieve greater production and greater efficiency, in an effort to meet projected increases in demand for animal-based foods. However, the mitigation potential of these appear to be limited, particularly in light of the animal welfare, social and environmental trade-offs that may be required to implement these. Alternative solutions focus on reducing that demand through changes in consumption patterns - from eating less meat and eating less beef, to converging on equitable consumption levels around the world, and finally to stopping the consumption of meat and dairy altogether. A small number of UK authors propose an approach that defines supply by the amount of livestock that could be produced on marginal lands or by-products we cannot eat.
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    An assessment of farmers' perceptions of and adaption to climate change risk: a case of canola farmers in the Shepparton Region, Victoria, Australia
    Gontako, Julius Peter ( 2013)
    This research on the assessment of farmer's perceptions and adaption to climate change was conducted in the Shepparton district of Victoria, Australia. The main objective of this constructivist research is to examine canola farmer's perceptions of climate change, and their strategies to adapt to the risks that may be involved because of this. The study considers two specific objectives: to identify the canola famers' perceptions and adaptation to climate change risks and impacts; and to identify factors influencing their perceptions and adaptation to these risks. This qualitative inquiry used semi-structured interviews with key participants and phenomenological methodology. One face-to-face and five phone interviews were conducted with canola farmers of the Birchip Cropping Group (BCG). Data was thematically analyzed and manually coded. The study highlights divisions of canola farmers about the existence and cause of climate change, an understanding of the need for action and a high willingness to adapt, as well as large disparities in usage of climate change terminology. Factors such as experience and farm size were negatively correlated to farmer's perception and adaptation to climate change. It also shows that a decrease in moisture is the foremost driver in variations in canola crop production, availability of water resources was a factor in choices for adaptation, and changing to drought-resistant canola varieties and strategic sowing were considered as future and current adaptation measures respectively. Furthermore, some farmers have considered leaving the canola growing industry due to loss of moisture. The study recommends four basic measures to be undertaken. Firstly, there is a need for decision makers and scientist to design programs to break the terminology boundaries of climate change risk and weather variability, and remove the uncertainty among small farming group such as canola farmers through effective communication on climate change to eliminate the skepticism related to the idea of climate change risk. Secondly, there is a need to reshape the framework of climate change communication to flow down to local life of individual farmers such as daily life practices and traditional beliefs that define small group of farmers in Shepparton. Thirdly, Scientist and decision makers in Shepparton has to increase the means of how they could better communicate climate change matters to agriculture community such as small group of canola farmers. Lastly, more research both social and scientific on climate change and agriculture on areas of perception and better adaptation in canola cropping within Shepparton are needed to assist decision makers to come up with tangible solution to solve the problems of climate change in Shepparton rather than depending on literatures or related study in another location.
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    Soil carbon sequestration on Victoria: policy and regulatory constraints
    Margetts, Samantha ( 2011)
    Soil carbon sequestration (SCS) is the transferral of atmospheric carbon dioxide into the soil. The sequestration process can be enhanced through employing particular land management practices (such as reduced tillage). Some research has found that increasing the carbon pool of soils brings benefits through offsetting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and comes with the additional benefits related to improvements in soil quality, such as increased agricultural productivity and profitability. However, the widespread uptake of SCS land management practices in Victoria has not yet been realised. This is due to a variety of constraints. The key barriers arise out of economic and scientific uncertainty. Specific concerns include issues around transaction costs, the difficulties with measurement and verification of the extent of SCS. A number of practical difficulties embedded in the current legislative framework aimed at achieving carbon abatement through enhancing SCS have also been identified (such as the 100 year `permanence' rule under the Carbon Farming Initiative). To address these issues, more research into the science and economics of SCS land management activities within Victoria is needed. Given the now recognised effects of climate change further research is warranted. This study also identifies that aspects of current policies should be examined and modified so that the implementation of SCS land management activities may commence without constraints.
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    Potential of Opportunistic Summer Cropping in Northern Victoria
    Abeysinghe Mudiyanselage, Subhashini Kumari ( 2010)
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    A cautious approach to GMO regulation
    Nares Rodriguez, Maria Isabel ( 2013)
    The constant human population and events such as climate change hinder the achievement of global food security and threaten the effectiveness of current agricultural practices. To address this issues the need for technological intervention is necessary. That is the case of GM technology, which is being highly implemented around the globe to increase crops' yields, enhance nutrimental value in foods and feed, increase crops resistance to extreme conditions and pesticides among other activities. Nevertheless, the implementation of GMOs involves risks such as toxicity, the creation of super-weeds and genetic contamination. GMOs can bring multiple benefits and represent one of the most promising strategies to achieve global food security. In order to take advantage of such benefits and avoid the risks that GMOs involve they should be managed with precaution. It is through proper regulation that this cautious approach can be achieved. Examples of current regulations are evidence of the lack of precaution and the consequences of it. Such regulations include the Law on the Production, Certification and Commerce of Seeds, the Law on Plant Health and the General Law of Ecological Equilibrium. This Mexican frameworks stand out for its almost non existent precaution regarding the management of GMOs. Consequences of such thoughtless regulations can be summarised in the Mexican maize tragedy. An event triggered by the signature of the NAFTA treaty in 1994 that lead to economic crisis headed by the genetic contamination of GM maize imported from the United States, the country had poor and deceiving precautionary regulations. On the other hand, examples of highly strict regulations are evidence of how inflexibility can hinder the elution of technology. Such regulations includes the Directive 2001/18/EC on the deliberate release of GMOs into the environment, the Regulation (EC) 258/97 on novel foods and food ingredients, the Regulation (EC) 1829/2003 on novel food and feed and the Regulation (EC) 1830/2003 on traceability and labelling of GMOs an GM products (Directive 2001/18/EC on the deliberate release of GMOs [2001]). These regulations lead the EU approach to a state of 'suspended animation' regarding the advances in GM technology. The description of a 'proper GMO regulation' provided in the present document was obtained by analysing and comparing both approaches. Proper legislation can be defined as uncertainty-wise regulatory frameworks that implements the precautionary principle and risk assessment measures in a coherent-safe directed way, implements a cautious but flexible rigour and is highly specific. In the same way, a proper regulatory framework should also be shaped by safety-relevant stake holders, those advocating for the prevalence of biological diversity, environmental health, sustainability and hunger alleviation rather that those advocating for personal interests and the enrichment of a few. GMOs and such technology should serve not lucrative purposes but those of sustainability and famine alleviation. Under a proper regulatory framework as the one described above is how a cautious approach to GMO legislation can allow the exploitation of the GM benefits in order to increase the effectiveness of agricultural practices and achieve global food security in the light of major challenges such as climate change, the continuous grow of the human population as well as the exhaustion of natural resources whilst avoiding the risks that GM technology involves
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    Perceptions affecting agricultural development in Vanuatu: a comparison of two rural communities
    Newbigin, Peter William ( 2014)
    Interviews in two rural communities in Vanuatu, Siviri Village on the Island of Efate and Luli Village on the Island of Paama, sought to explore convergent and divergent attitudes surrounding agricultural practices, in order to better understand relationships between rural ni-Vanuatu and their nation's agricultural development agenda. Thematic analysis of the interviews revealed traits which were common between each location and other which were in contrast. Traits were then considered in the light of Vanuatu's national agricultural development strategies, and with respect to the literature of practice change, agricultural innovation, and cultural attributes at play in Vanuatu, including ideas of ni-Vanuatu kastom (indigenous culture). Communities were found to hold unique attitudes towards development, derived partly from their unique geographic and economic circumstances, and partly from localised social attitudes and uniquely evolved kastom. Mutual aspiration for greater participation in Vanuatu's agricultural economy has been undermined by poor strategic level imagining of innovation pathways at odds with community centric learning systems, ideas of risk and vulnerability, and powerful social functions associated attached to semi-subsistent gardening. This research identifies several areas for further investigation, and recommends that Vanuatu's agricultural sector reimagine the roles of rural ni-Vanuatu and revise their approach to innovation.
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