(CNSNews.com) – Australian sheep and cattle producers should consider shifting to kangaroos to help reduce emissions of “greenhouse gases,” a major report on climate change says.
 
Unlike sheep and cows, kangaroos release a negligible amount of methane when they belch and emit wind. Methane is one of the group of gases blamed by many scientists for global warming.
 
“Australian marsupials emit negligible amounts of methane from enteric fermentation,” the Australian federal government’s climate change adviser, Prof. Ross Garnaut, said in a report released on Tuesday. “This could be a source of international comparative advantage for Australia in livestock production.”
 
Garnaut said that kangaroo was “the main source of meat” during most of Australia’s human history. “It could again become important.”
 
The report, commissioned by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, looks into the impact of climate change on Australia’s economy and makes recommendation on future policies. The headline recommendation is the establishment of an emissions trading system (ETS), with a target of reducing emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases by up to 25 percent from 2000 levels, by 2020.
 
Garnaut said, however, that the target would ultimately depend on the scope of an international emissions-reduction agreement, due to be hammered out at a summit in Copenhagen late next year.
 
Garnaut’s report argues that sheep and cattle production is “highly vulnerable” to climate change, and that farmers’ costs would rise if agriculture was included in the proposed ETS, because of the prices set on methane emissions.
 
He predicted that households would move away from meat products because of ETS-driven rising prices, and may move towards “less emissions-intensive meat,” such as chicken and pork.
 
Kangaroo should also be considered, Garnaut said, although he acknowledged some “significant barriers,” including “consumer resistance” and the fact that changes in food tastes tend to be gradual.
 
The report cited recent research saying kangaroo numbers could increase from 34 million to 240 million by 2020. The meat from 175 million kangaroos could replace lost lamb and beef production and become more profitable than sheep and cattle production once emission prices exceeded 40 Australian dollars ($32) a ton.
 
There would also be a net reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of about 16 million tons a year, it said.
 
In its reaction Wednesday, the National Farmers’ Federation said it had no problem with alternative meats, but “the reality is that kangaroo meat currently has a very limited market.”
 
Consumers were not indicating that they would accept kangaroo meat in large quantities, let alone as a substitute for beef or lamb, the NFF said.
 
It also pointed out that Australian beef and lamb producers were meeting not only domestic, but global, demand. Australia is one of the world’s biggest red meat exporters.
 
The head of the Northern Territory Cattlemen’s Association told Australian radio Garnaut’s kangaroo idea was ridiculous
 
“Nobody’s denying the fact that kangaroo meat’s probably a good product if you can get hold of it, but there’s major issues, just from an animal welfare perspective about farming kangaroos,” said Luke Bowen. “For a start they can’t be transported, they can’t be killed other than in the field …”
 
Australia does, in fact, have a 40-year-old kangaroo industry which, according to the Kangaroo Industry Association of Australia (KIAA), employs more than 4,000 people, mostly in remote rural locations.
 
The animals are culled by a gunshot to the head or the junction of the head and neck. The low-fat, gamey meat is available in various cuts, including steaks and ribs.
 
Despite the purported environmental benefits, the killing and eating of kangaroos has drawn protests from activist groups like Vegetarians International Voice for Animals (Viva), which has campaigned against the sale of kangaroo meat products in Britain and the use of kangaroo skin in sports shoes.
 
A report commissioned – but not authored – by Greenpeace Australia Pacific into greenhouse gas emission options in 2007 found that reducing beef consumption would help reduce Australia’s emissions. The authors suggested that this could be done by eating less beef or by substituting beef with kangaroo meat.
 
After media reports emerged saying Greenpeace was advocating kangaroo meat, the organization issued denials.
 
“Not all the measures in the report are Greenpeace policy and Greenpeace absolutely does not advocate eating kangaroo meat,” said chief executive officer Steve Shallhorn.
 
Nonetheless, the KIAA expressed hope that the report would “spark more serious consideration of the issue within Greenpeace.”
 
On its Web site, Greenpeace states, “It is not Greenpeace policy to advocate eating kangaroo meat. There are many ways to take personal action on climate change. Reducing or stopping your red meat consumption will help decrease the greenhouse gas emissions that result from livestock farming.”
 
In 2003, the government of New Zealand – another country with a small population and large numbers of sheep and cattle – dropped a controversial and much-ridiculed plan to tax farmers for their livestock’s flatulence, as part of its emission-reduction efforts.