Hon Parekura Horomia
Minister of Māori Affairs

20 September 2007 Media Statement

Significant benefits for Māori in plan to fight climate change

The release of the next steps in the Labour-led government’s plan to fight climate change could have significant benefits for Māori - particularly iwi with significant interests in forestry, says Māori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia.
The government today released its plan to fight climate change, New Zealand’s Climate Change Solutions, together with the Framework for a New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme.

The Sustainable Land Management and Climate Change Plan of Action and the engagement document Forestry in a New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme were also released.

Labour’s plan to fight climate change includes:

- An emission trading scheme to put a price on greenhouse gas pollution

- Measures to encourage forestry and better land use

- Increasing renewable electricity generation to 90% of New Zealand’s total by 2025

- Improving fuel and energy efficiency in buildings, homes and business

- Making the public sector carbon neutral

- Reducing emissions from the transport sector by half by 2040, and encouraging the introduction of electric vehicles.

“Māori have sizeable areas of land qualifying for post-1989 forestry that currently has limited potential for alternative use. An emissions trading scheme will present options for economic opportunities for Māori. The proposed scheme allows the Government to devolve carbon credits for growing trees which will provide a major new incentive to Māori and the wider forestry industry to consider planting or regenerating more forests.”

Māori own about 15 per cent of all plantation forest land, which could increase to over 40 per cent once Treaty claims on remaining land are settled and the land transferred.

“Māori are inextricably linked to and involved with the sustainable management and use of natural resources through the intergenerational exercise of kaitiakitanga. Climate change is a global issue that will impact on the relationship Māori have with the environment and in our use of natural resources, particularly in our coastal communities,” Mr Horomia said.

“It was made clear during 13 regional consultation hui earlier this year that Māori wanted action taken on climate change. Fourteen further hui have been scheduled next month to discuss the new proposals to tackle the issue.”

“Many areas of Māori land are steep and in regions vulnerable to storm and erosion. With the onset of climate change, these lands will be even more exposed with the predicted arrival of more frequent and severe storms, and more droughts in the east of New Zealand,” Mr Horomia said.

“In the forestry sector, deforestation, is defined as the conversion of forested lands to other land uses, and is one of the leading causes of climate change. The climate change policy proposals are part of the Government’s wider sustainability agenda, for example, higher forest planting rates and increased forest regeneration will reduce green house gas emissions. They will also improve water quality and reduce soil erosion.”

“It is likely there will be small increases in electricity prices after 2010 when the cost of greenhouse gas pollution from coal or gas fired power stations are included in the Emissions Trading System, Mr Horomia said.

“The government has made a commitment that there will be compensation for low and modest income consumers for higher electricity prices because they're not in a position to quickly change their energy use.”

“It is important that Māori engage with the Government on the issues raised in both the Emissions Trading Scheme framework and the Sustainable Land Management document.”

The government is undertaking a study of the impacts of an emissions trading scheme on Māori, and has established a Māori Reference Group to help advise on policy proposals, Mr Horomia said.

For further information: www.climatechange.govt.nz

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Hon Parekura Horomia
Minita mō ngā Take Māori

20 Mahuru 2007 Pānui Pāho

He painga nui tonu mō ngai Māori kei roto i te mahere whawhai ki te whakarerekē āhua rangi

He nui tonu ngā painga tērā ka puta mō ngai Māori i te tukunga o ngā mahinga kei roto i te mahere mahi a te kāwanatanga ārahi-Reipa, ki te whawhai whakarerekē āhua rangi – e whakapā ana ki ngā iwi e pupuri pānga nui tonu ana i roto i ngā ngahere rākau, e kī ana te Minita mō ngā Take Māori, a Parekura Horomia.

I te rangi nei ka tukuna e te kāwanatanga tana mahere ki te whawhai whakarerekē āhua rangi, Rongoā Whakatika Whakarerekē Āhua Rangi o Aotearoa, tāpiri atu ki te Pou Tarāwaho mō tētahi Kaupapa Hokohoko Whakaputanga o Aotearoa.

I tukuna anō te Mahinga Mahere Whakahaere Whenua Ukauka me te Whekererekē Ahua Rangi, me te pukapuka whakamahinga, Ngahere Rākau ki roto i te Kaupapa Hokohoko Whakaputanga o Aotearoa.

Kei roto i te Mahere a Reipa ki te whawhai whakarereke āhua rangi, ko:
- Tētahi Kaupapa Hokohoko Whakaputanga hei whakahau utunga ki runga i ngā whakaparunga kāhi whare kākāriki
- Ngā whakaritenga ki te whakamanawa rākau ngahere me te mahinga pai ake i te whenua
- Te whakanui ake i te whakahuringa hiko whakahou ki te 90% o te tōpūtanga o Aotearoa i mua o te tau 2025
- Te whakapai ake i ngā kakamatanga konga me ngā pūngao whare nui, whare noho, me ngā wāhi pakihi
- Te hanga i te rāngai tūmatanui kia whakaraupapa
- Te whakaiti i ngā whakaputanga mai i te rāngai waka hari ki te hāwhe I mua o te tau 2040, me te whakamanawa i te tīmatanga o ngā waka hiko.

“He nui tonu ngā wāhi whenua e āhei ana ki ngā kaupapa rākau ngahere ā-muri i te tau 1989, me te pūmanawa pakupaku noaiho mō ētahi ake whakamahinga. Ka tuwhera mai i te Kaupapa Hokohoko Whakaputanga he huarahi wātea ōhanga ki te Māori. Ko te kaupapa nei ka tuku I te Kāwanatanga ki te hoatu hua hokohoko mō te tanu rākau, ka whakawhiwhia tētahi manawarū hou nui tonu ki a ngai Māori me te ahumahi räkau ngahere whānui ake ki te whakaaroaro ki te tanu rākau, ki te whakahou ngahere rākau rānei.”

E 15 ōrau te pupuritanga a ngai Māori o ngā whenua ngahere rākau katoa, ākuanei tēra ka piki ake ki te 40 ōrau hei te whakatautanga o ngā kerēme Tiriti ki runga i ngā whenua e toi ana me te whakawhitinga o aua whenua.

“ Kua roa tonu a ngai Māori e whakapiri ana, e whaiwāhi ana ki ngā whakahaere ukauka me te whakamahi i ngā rawa taiao mā roto i ngā whakahaere waenga reanga o te kaitiakitanga. He take kei te ao-whānui te whakarerekē āhua rangi ka whakapā atu ki te hononga atu a ngai Māori ki te taiao me a tātou whakamahinga i ngā rawa taiao, me te whakapā nui ake ki ngā hapori tahamoana,” e kī ana a Horomia.

“I puta mārama mai i ngā hui whiriwhiri ā-rohe e 13 i te tīmatanga o te tau nei, te hiahia a ngai Māori kia whakamahia ngā whakamahere mō te whakarereke āhua rangi. Kua whakaritea ngā hui ā-rohe te kau mā whā, a te marama nei, ki te whiriwhiri i ngā whakaaro hou ki te whakatutuki i tēnei take.

“ He maha ngā wāhi whenua Māori he whenua tūpoupou, kei roto i ngā rohe tūpuhi, whenua horohoro. I runga i te taunga mai o te whakarerekē āhua rangi, ka tuwhera kaha ake ngā whenua nei ki ngā mata pae ka maha ake, ka kino rawa ngā tūpuhi, ka maha anō ngā rangi maroke ki te rohe rāwhiti o Aotearoa.”

“I roto i te rāngai ngahere rākau, e tautuhia ana te whakamāmore whenua, ko te whakawhitinga atu o ngā whenua ngahere rākau, ki ētahi ake whakamahinga whenua, ā, koia nei tētahi o ngā pūtake ārahi i te whakarerekē āhua rangi. Ko ngā whakaaro kaupapa here whakarerekē āhua rangi nei, koia nei tētahi o ngā whārangi ukaukatanga whānui a te Kāwanatanga, hei tauira, ngā auau tanu rākau teitei ake, me te tupu hou kaha ake, koia nei katoa ka whakaheke i ngā whakaputanga kāhi whare kākāriki . Mā konei anō e whakapai ake i te kounga wai, me te whakaiti i ngā horohoronga whenua.”

“Tērā anō ngā pikinga pakupaku o ngā utunga hiko ā-muri i te tau 2010, hei te urunga atu i ngā utu o ngā whakaparunga kāhi whare kākāriki, mai i ngā whare huri hiko tahu waro, tahu kāhi rānei, ki roto i te Pūnaha Hokohoko Whakaputanga,” i kī a Horomia.

“ Kei te piripono te Kāwanatanga ki te whakarite utunga mō ngā kaitango hiko, e iti noaiho ana a rātou moni whiwhi, mō ngā pikinga utu hiko, i te mea kahore rātou i roto i ngā āhuatanga ki te whakawhiti tere a rātou whakamahinga pūngao”

“ He mea whakahirahira kia hono atu a ngai Māori ki te Kāwanatanga mō ngā take kua puta mai i te pou tarāwaho Kaupapa Hokohoko Whakaputanga me te pukapuka, Whakahaere Whenua Ukauka.”

Kei te whakahaere e te kāwanatanga tētahi rangahau o te whakapātanga i te kaupapa hokohoko whakaputanga ki a ngai Māori, ā, kua whakatūria tētahi Rōpū Kōrero Whakatara Māori, hei āwhina i ngā tohutohu kaupapa here, i kī a Horomia.

Titiro atu ki: www.climatechange.govt.nz

ENDS

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