Environmental Minister Refuses to Comment on Agriculture-Related Emissions in New Zealand

Just recently, New Zealand's independent environmental watchdog of the Parliament has released a report regarding the emissions of the agricultural sector of their country and this has been urging the government to take the lead in resolving the issue. But despite the report's call for their attention, NZ's Environmental Minister Nick Smith still refused to give his comments.

On a report produced by Dr. Jan Wright, Parliament Commissioner for the Environment (PCE), figures on the greenhouse gases emitted by the agriculture sector called for New Zealand Government's considerations on giving extra attention to the issue. According to Newshub, Wright suggested that the research component of the country should be intensified, gearing towards improving agriculture with less GHG emissions, including the possible development of a methane vaccine that can help reduce animals' gas emissions. Genetically modified feeds for livestock to decrease production of gas and raising low emission animals were also mentioned.

But aside from these technical aspects of reducing GHGs from the agriculture sector, Dr. Wright has also magnified the use of non technological breakthroughs such as increasing the number of trees which breathes in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Overall, the report was described as a "reality-check" for the New Zealand Government to include emissions from agriculture in line with their agreements on the previous Paris Climate Agreement.

Despite the rattling throws of information, Environmental Minister Smith that responding to Wright's paper was Climate Change Minister Paula Bennett's responsibility. "You would need to put questions of government policy to her," Bennet said on a news article.

Meanwhile, New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Has Research Centre (NZAGRC) Director Harry Clark took the findings on the lighter side while looking forward to more choices for better agriculture. "The more options we have to reduce agricultural greenhouse gases, the easier it will become for New Zealand to achieve its 2030 emission target signaled under the Paris Agreement of a 30% reduction in emissions compared with 2005," Clark said.