Minister Jones Needs Assurance That His ‘Trees Fund Branching Out’ Doesn’t End up as a Knot According to 50 Shades of Green.

Conservation Group 50 Shades of Green supports Minister Jones in his efforts to put the right tree in the right place.

It also supports Iwi initiatives to regenerate native bush.

What it doesn’t support is easy access for foreign investors and carbon speculators to plant good farmland in trees for no other reason than to claim carbon credits.

Fifty Shades chair, Andy Scott, says that it is time to have a ‘cup of tea’ over the policy.

“Here in the Wairarapa we have titled overseas aristocrats buying productive farms for the sole reason of farming carbon credits,” Andy Scott said. “That’s also happening in the rest of the country.

“Those foreigners have no intention of thinning, pruning or cutting the mature trees.

“It is the same for New Zealand speculators who can access government funding for planting part of the farm. With guaranteed income from the Zero Carbon legislation they don’t need to thin, prune or harvest.

“That does nothing for the provinces or the economy.

“That’s not ‘trees branching out’. That’s a festering knot.

“If New Zealand First and indeed the government really want to future proof our economy it should keep good New Zealand farmland for food production as the Paris Accord requires,” Andy Scott said.

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