Urgent action needed on New Zealand's agriculture emissions: environment watchdog

New Zealand's top environment watchdog on Wednesday called for urgent action to curb the country's biological greenhouse gases, starting with tree planting.

Greenhouse gas emissions per capita in New Zealand were one of the highest in the world, largely because of methane and nitrous oxide produced by farm animals, which accounted for about half the country's emissions, Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Jan Wright said in a report.

"Without the gains in productivity that have been achieved since 1990, emissions of methane and nitrous oxide from agriculture would now be about 40 percent higher than they currently are," said the report.

"These improvements have been achieved through breeding more efficient animals and improving farm management. Such improvements in emissions intensity are expected to continue but at a declining rate," it said.

"Despite the decline in biological emissions intensity over the last 25 years, total emissions from agriculture increased over the same period because so much more food has been produced."

Currently New Zealand's Emissions Trading Scheme excluded biological emissions, but other sectors and taxpayers would become increasingly "squeezed" if agriculture did not take some responsibility for methane and nitrous oxide.

New Zealanders had to work together to start tackling the complex problem of the biological greenhouse gases from agriculture, Wright said in a statement.

""There are no silver bullets here, but we need to do what we can to curb these emissions, and we need to start now," she said.

Immediate opportunities for reducing New Zealand's emissions lay in new native and plantation forests.

"It might not be the whole solution, but a million hectares of trees would make a big difference, not to mention the added benefits for erosion and water quality," she said.

Climate Change Minister Paula Bennett and Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy issued a statement welcoming the report and outlining government measures to combat emission, but stressing the difficulty of reducing them while growing the economy.

"Dr Wright's report is consistent with the government's view that mitigation of greenhouse gases from agriculture is difficult and requires a multi-pronged approach," said Bennett.

Opposition lawmakers urged the government to come up with "more than platitudes" to deal with agriculture emissions.

"The government should instead be leading the way to re-think how we farm, where we farm and what we farm to try to reduce our emissions. It's a challenge, but we have to face the fact that business-as-usual farming isn't compatible with keeping our climate safe," Green Pary co-leader James Shaw said in a statement. Endit