Gordon Copeland Press Release
For Immediate Release
Wednesday, 19th March 2008
Government’s forestry record woeful
Independent MP Gordon Copeland, the Kiwi Party’s spokesperson on forestry, today expressed his dismay at the news that a
record 19,000 hectares of trees were deforested in 2007.
“This follows the deforestation of 5,000 hectares in 2004, and a further 11,000 hectares in both 2005 and 2006,” said Mr
Copeland.
“These outcomes can only be described as disastrous and I find the spin which Forestry Minister, Jim Anderton, has
attached to those figures breathtaking in the scope of its denial.”
“Minister, the hard facts are that when New Zealand signed up to the Kyoto Protocol, we should have immediately embarked
on a massive nation-wide tree planting exercise. If we had acted then, New Zealand would now have a greatly enlarged
forestry carbon sink, and avoided our estimated $900 million liability under the Protocol.”
“At the same time, we would have prevented soil erosion and greatly improved the environment. The fact that the
Minister, faced with those realities, greets the news of this vast deforestation by claiming that it could have been
even worse, is mind boggling.”
“Simply stated, the Government is doing too little, too late and we have lost a fabulous opportunity through years of
inaction.”
ENDS