Carbon farming in WA

Fact sheets: 1. Applying biochar to improve soil quality and crop productivity 2. Reducing methane emissions from cattle using feed additives 3. Cattle breeding for lower greenhouse gas emissions 4. Managing genetic codes to reduce methane emissions from cattle 5. Managing pastures and stocking rate to reduce methane emissions from cattle 6. Claying as a method of increasing soil carbon content 7. Green and brown manuring as part of carbon farming 8. Permanent environmental plantings to earn carbon credits 9. Nitrous oxide emissions from agricultural soils 10. Sheep genetics in methane reduction 11. Managing sheep pastures to reduce methane production 12. Sheep reproduction and reduction in methane emissions 13. Managing stocking rate to reduce carbon emissions 14. Nutrition and feed additives to reduce methane emissions 15. Soil amelioration through the application of lime 16. Liquid biofuel as a replacement for fossil fuels Royalties for Region

Reinterpreting Core and Periphery in Australia's Mineral and Energy Resources Boom: an Innisian perspective on the Pilbara

Australia's current robust macro-economic condition, at least relative to that of many comparator nations within Europe and the USA, is built largely on the nation's particular insertion into the global economy as an abundant and reliable source of mineral and energy resources. Within Australia, though, public concern is mounting over the many direct and indirect economic, environmental and social effects of mineral and energy resource extraction and processing. Resource peripheries like the Pilbara have been characterised as 'slippery spaces' where capital, commodities and labour rapidly flow in, and all too frequently out, of these remote regions, with the surplus from local extraction and processing captured by the 'sticky places'-the metropolitan cores host to the national and multinational mining and energy corporations (Hayter 2003). Drawing on insights from Innis' staples theory and geographical political economy, this paper focuses on two of these closely connected concerns. First, it briefly explores the attempts to establish a redistributive mechanism with which to equitably allocate the benefits of the boom in a federal polity in which socio-spatial inequity is still regarded as a substantial public policy concern. Second, shifting the focus to the regional and local scales of the Pilbara and its scattered towns, the paper critically explores the 'Pilbara Cities' initiative, funded by the 'Royalties for Regions' scheme, querying whether or not this ambitious plan can create the conditions for the development of functionally complex local and regional economies

Confronting the 'Resource Curse or Cure' Binary

The use of the curse or cure dichotomy to frame a discussion around the impacts of mining is an oversimplification, not least in the emphasis on one or the other (as opposed to curse and cure). It is, however, a potent trope for engaging critically with the consequences of mining not only in narrow economic terms but also in regard to political, social and environmental costs and benefits. Further, as Goodman and Worth (2008: 201) point out, to engage with the resource curse or cure question is to also engage more broadly with "the internal contradictions of capitalist development" as evident, for example, in divisions "between those who benefit from and those who bear the costs of accumulation" and the many conflicts-political, social, economic, environmental-attending resource extraction. It is in this sense that this volume mobilises the 'resource curse or cure?' motif

Cost-effective GHG mitigation strategies for Western Australia’s housing sector: a life cycle management approach

The demand of natural resources for Western Australia’s (WA) housing sector is increasing due to economic and population growth, which will be a challenging task for Australia to achieve its GHG reduction target. This paper has assessed possible GHG mitigation options for Western Australia’s houses, where energy-intensive clay brick walls and single-glazed windows are currently being used. A life cycle management framework has been used to determine cost-effective GHG emissions mitigation strategies. This framework integrates life cycle assessment tool, energy rating tool (AccuRate), and life cycle cost (LCC) analysis in order to ascertain environmentally and economically viable alternative building envelop for constructing a house in WA. The results show that the house made of cast in situ sandwich walls, recycled core materials and double-glazed windows, and equipped with solar energy system for electricity and water heating is the best option. This option has life cycle GHG emissions and LCC saving potentials of 7 and 20 %, respectively