http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24290893-5013871,00.html

KEVIN Rudd will be asked to dramatically lift Australia's reserves of natural forests and grasslands as part of its climate change solution in a bid to ease emissions cuts on industry as part of the transition to a low-carbon economy.

The Prime Minister's climate change adviser, Ross Garnaut, yesterday urged Australia to lift its focus on retaining natural forests and grasslands in northern Australia as part of its climate change response.

The Australian understands the concept of boosting biosequestration has the support of senior government figures, particularly given its potential to reduce the impact on industry of the Government's carbon reduction measures.

Professor Garnaut said Australia was uniquely placed to use biosequestration to soak up carbon emissions, with its northern savannahs likely to continue to receive good rainfall despite the effects of climate change.

"We are, of the OECD countries, probably the country in the world with the largest area of woodlands and forest per capita and this vast area is going to provide very large potential for biosequestration of many kinds," Professor Garnaut said.

Opposition Treasury spokesman Malcolm Turnbull, who was environment minister in the Howard government, said there was massive potential for biosequestration.

"One of the reasons we promoted the carbon-sink-forest tax deductibility was because there are vast areas of Australia where there's the opportunity to reforest areas, often with trees that have virtually no value from a timber point of view such as mallee, (but) are very effective in storing carbon," Mr Turnbull said last night.

"And for those people that are anxious about climate science, it is an absolutely no-regret policy because nobody could argue that there aren't numerous environmental benefits in stopping the deforestation of the world's rainforests."

Mr Turnbull said biosequestration was the reason the previous government proposed financial support for Indonesia to stamp out illegal logging and preserve its forests.

The Rudd Government had "taken up our idea, changed the name and presented it as their own idea", Mr Turnbull said.

An Australian National University study released last month highlighted the role of untouched forests in combating climate change. Untouched natural forests could carry three times more carbon than previously thought, the report found.

Professor Garnaut's move to shift the climate debate towards biosequestration came as big business appealed to Brendan Nelson to moderate his hardline opposition to the Government's proposed emissions trading scheme, warning that the stance was hurting companies craving political certainty as they pondered major investment decisions.

Our insane attitudes towards drugs, has seen the humble hemp plant overlooked in favour of logging trees for making paper.

That is clearly crazy, hemp produces a tenfold yield to that of trees for paper production, and you wouldn't smoke it, because the amount of THC in it is negligible, but we still see resistance because of the stupid drug war rubbish.

We really need a more wholistic approach to how we look after our environment, and choose the most sensible options.

http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/ncnu02/v5-284.html