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MURDOCH Environmental Science PhD student Helen Allison is using a Murdoch scholarship to help understand the interactions of complex socio-economic environmental systems.The study investigates how we can link investment opportunities from reducing greenhouse gas emissions under the Kyoto Protocol with sustainable land management practices in forestry, vegetation management and agriculture. “Changing land use can assist in addressing key natural resource management problems such as salinity, which have arisen as a result of previous land use practices,” said Ms Allison. “However, changing land use is not simple. It is about making decisions involving economic, social and ecological interactions at the micro, (or individual), level, and macro level.” These numerous interactions may generate surprising or unexpected outcomes in the behaviour of the system, for example, the relationship between the benefits for biodiversity of tree planting and the potential income provided by carbon credits for farmers. Other issues include those associated with acceptance or rejection of widespread tree planting in agricultural areas, and how these affect small rural communities. “Trees absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it in their wood in the form of a ‘carbon sink’,” said Ms Allison. “What this means is that as well as producing valuable goods such as food and fibre, farmers can play a very important role in supplying ecosystem services such as air purification. “By planting trees to remove carbon dioxide from the air, farmers may be able to obtain carbon credits for the carbon in their trees. “Just as farmers today sell their wheat into a global market, they will be able to sell their carbon into a similar market. Industries that emit carbon dioxide will be able to buy these carbon credits to offset their carbon dioxide emissions.” As part of her research, Ms Allison is examining how the planted trees will also achieve other benefits, such as biodiversity. Ms Allison is using a high-performance computer-modelling program to aid understanding of how the system works, in particular how one part of the system has a feedback effect on another. For example, she is studying carbon emissions trading and examining the implications of the price of carbon on the rate of tree planting in Western Australian catchments. She is also questioning whether the use of carbon trading will make any difference to the small farmer and what mechanisms can be developed to encourage farmers to plant trees which are so necessary to help prevent further increase in salinity. Ms Allison added that although the Kyoto Protocol has not been ratified by Australia, her work was strongly linked to its adoption. “Emissions trading mechanisms are already in place, or soon will be, in the UK, Denmark and the European Union,” she said. “If Australia does not ratify the Kyoto Protocol, we will not be able to participate in global emissions trading. It will be a missed opportunity to access important dollars for revegetation projects.”Ms Allison has been working in the area of natural resources management for more than 20 years. Originally from Scotland, she completed her Honours degree in Zoology at Aberdeen University. Since arriving in Australia more than 20 years ago, she has worked in a number of exciting research positions. At the Alligator Rivers Region Research Institute in Jabiru, Northern Territory, she looked at the effects of uranium mining on the environment and, at the University of New England, she investigated the biology, ecology and heavy metal content of freshwater mussels establishing it as a biological monitor for the environment. Ms Allison completed her Masters degree in Marine Biology at James Cook University in Northern Queensland before moving to WA to work in a number of government departments including the Department of Environmental Protection, Agriculture WA and with the Minister for Environment. She has also worked closely with the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA). She came to Murdoch in March 2000 to commence her PhD in the School of Environmental Science under the supervision of Associate Professor Frank Murray. |
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Editor: Pepi Smyth
Produced by the ">Office
of Community Relations, Murdoch
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