Pilita Clark is environment correspondent at Financial Times
Killing a camel to earn a carbon credit may seem a curious way
to tackle climate change, but one country is poised to allow
investors to do precisely that. The camel culling plan is one of
the first to arise under the Australian government's new "carbon
farming initiative", a scheme that lets farmers or investors
claim carbon credits if they can show they have cut greenhouse
gas emissions. Such emissions are plentiful in Australia's
desert centre thanks to the region's large population of feral
camels, a legacy of the herds introduced in the 19th century to
help settle the continent's interior. More than 1 million camels
are now believed to be roaming across the Australian outback --
one of the biggest camel populations in the world -- and each
emits methane, a greenhouse gas significantly more potent than
carbon dioxide. "It's one of those 'out of sight, out of mind'
problems," said Tim Moore, managing director of Northwest
Carbon, an Adelaide-base