MEDIA RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE DISTRIBUTION
20 November 2005
Welcome Recognition for Forest Benefits
The New Zealand Institute of Forestry (NZIF) is pleased that the government is providing some recognition of the
benefits provided by forests. “The announcement this week that $100 million is to be allocated to assist afforestation
is a long overdue demonstration of the contribution that forests, and the owners of forest land, make towards reducing
soil erosion and improving water quality” said NZIF President Jaquetta (Ket) Bradshaw.
The announcement was made by Forestry Minister Jim Anderton when launching a discussion document on Sustainable Land
Management and Climate Change. The document contains a number of forestry and agricultural options that the government
is investigating as part of its climate change initiatives.
Ms Bradshaw noted “As they grow, forests remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. Carbon is stored in the growing
trees and in the products produced from trees when they are harvested. They do this better than any other land use.
Whereas NZ agriculture added 37 million tonnes of CO2 to the atmosphere in 2004 and energy use added another 31 million
tonnes, the NZ forests removed over 24 million tonnes and locked it up in the trees. It is obvious that any initiatives
that increase the area of forests make good sense from a climate change point of view.”
The NZIF Council is looking forward to working through the various options with its members in the New Year and expects
to be able to make some helpful contributions. “For a forest owner conducting “business as usual forestry” where forests
are routinely re-establishing as they are harvested, the options appear to offer little, either as an incentive or a
disincentive. There could, however, be problems where an owner wants to rationalise forest holdings by not replanting
some areas but expanding forest into other areas. While it may not be allowed under the accounting rules of the Kyoto
Protocol, it is important from a climate change point of view to maintain or increase the total forest area rather than
allowing it to decrease. Locking-in land use in perpetuity as the options appear to envisage makes no sense from a
sensible, sustainable land use perspective. We hope that ways can be found to accommodate such flexibility into the
finally adopted policy.”
The Institute will be keen to see that the options eventually adopted by government will treat alternative land uses in
a consistent and even-handed manner and that these are extended to provisions in regional and district plans. With the
urgent need to take action against climate change it is crazy to perpetuate land use regulations that discriminate
against a climate friendly and sustainable land use such as forestry.
“We also want to see policies that provide long term certainty for those who take on a long term investment such as
forestry”, said Ms Bradshaw. “Radiata forests take at least 27 years to mature and the limited (five year) horizons of
the Kyoto commitment periods make it very difficult for investors to determine the economics of investing in one period
when little return will be received over the next five periods, and with the prospect of changes in the rules in each
new period.” NZIF believes that much of the current debate about liabilities on deforestation could have been avoided if
there had been an early and fully defined decision on what would happen in the event that a deforestation liability
arose – who would be liable and how it would be calculated.
A further aspect that NZIF hopes will be clarified is how the policies will apply to Maori land, and particularly where
land subject to Crown forestry licences is returned to Maori under Treaty of Waitangi settlements. As the licences do
not allow replanting of forests by the licensee when the land is returned to Maori, it would seem inequitable for the
licensee to be faced with a deforestation liability. Equally, it would appear inequitable either to penalise the Maori
owners for not replanting or to require them to re-establish forests on land that has been returned to them as part of a
Treaty Settlement.
“Forests are an essential part of the contribution that New Zealand can make to ameliorating global climate change. We
urgently need policies put in place that encourage commercial forestry, including the domestic use of wood and other
forest products and that recognise the contribution that forests and forest owners make to the economic, environmental
and social life of our country. The discussion paper is a step on the way and we look forward to working with government
to develop and expand on the options that it has presented to us.”
ENDS