Foresters Must Opt Into NZETS

7 November 2007

Environmental Intermediaries & Trading Group Limited (EITG) has published further recommendations to the forestry industry after a comprehensive review of the New Zealand Government’s proposed emissions trading system (NZETS) and attendance at MAF forestry briefings in October.
EITG strongly suggests post-1989 forest owners opt in to NZETS “no matter whether they intend to trade their forest carbon credits or not”.
”It was clear from officials at the forestry briefings that no one could bind future governments, so the risk of not being given credits at harvest free of charge is real and compelling,” joint CEO EITG Richard Hayes said.
“Looking at past examples such as the fishing quota, it’s easy to imagine the tax payer not wanting to stump up hundreds of thousands of dollars just so forest owners can harvest, particularly as future deforestation and the ‘wall of wood’ in 2020 look to coincide with increased prices for carbon.
“Trading these credits is, however, unlikely as most foresters left the briefings confused and disenchanted with the scheme despite its technical strengths.”
A full background on NZETS has been published on the EITG web site www.eitg.co.nz/nzets.htm

TPA Attacks Tree Planting Policy In Tasmania

Tree Plantations Australia (TPA) says the Tasmanian State Government has taken the wrong approach to managing the state’s land use.
“The policy announced on 1 November by the Premier Paul Lennon will dictate to land owners what they can and can’t do on their property, and this will restrict the options to combat climate change and correct the trade imbalance in forest and forest products,” TPA chief executive Allan Hansard said.
TPA is specifically concerned with the government’s Protection of Agricultural
Land (PAL) policy, which will ban the growing of trees on agricultural land deemed to be ‘high quality’, as trees, like all other plants, only grow well on good soil.
“This policy is divisive and is creating barriers between forestry and agriculture at a time when they should be working together,” Hansard said. “Plantations are offsetting the emission from agriculture, one of the highest greenhouse gas emitters of all industries.
“If the PAL policy goes ahead as outlined by the Premier in Parliament, the government will be contradicting the National Forest Policy Statement and Tasmanian Community Forest Agreement, which commit the government to growing the forest industry, especially the industry’s plantation base.
“The forest industry is a major employer in Tasmania and current and future processing and exporting facilities are reliant on further expanding the plantation estate, given the significant reserves of native forests in Tasmania.”
Hansard also had serious questions about the reasons for the concerns that tree plantations were ‘taking over’ prime land as less than 5% of prime agricultural land has been converted to plantation over the last five years.

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