Forestry cautions against removal of climate change toolsFriday 11 Apr 2025
The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment released its report, Alt-F Reset - Examining the drivers of forestry in New Zealand, looking at the economic and environmental impacts of forestry. New Zealand Forest Owners Association (NZFOA) chief executive Dr Elizabeth Heeg says the new report raises important considerations for land use adaptation in a changing climate but that some of its recommendations would be counter intuitive to progressing climate action. “Climate action is urgently needed and as it stands, there is a question mark over New Zealand meeting its 2050 emissions targets,” Elizabeth says. “Forestry remains at the centre of any future success so it makes no sense to limit the tools we do have available. Pulling back from the ETS without a tangible, alternative approach is risky at best.” Forest owners are also concerned about the pressure that removal of forestry offsets from the ETS would place on operators, particularly farmers and woodlot owners. “Small-scale farm foresters account for approximately 80 percent of ETS participants,” Elizabeth says. “These farmers utilise the ETS by providing an ecosystem service, that in turn funds their forestry management. “Removing forestry from the ETS will significantly impact the revenue streams of smaller operators and disincentivise any further planting of trees on farms which will likely detract from creating a more resilient mosaic of land uses in addition to meeting climate goals. “The revenue lost from forests entered into the ETS must be considered carefully to ensure a fair and sustainable approach for forestry nationwide.” Dr Heeg says the recommendations around the ETS appear to be driven by a misconception that forests are consuming valuable land at an exponential rate. Production forests currently occupy six percent of New Zealand’s total land area. Sheep and beef farming occupies five times that. “If New Zealand’s forest estate expanded by the projected 894,000 hectares detailed in the report, that would only constitute a three percent increase over 25 years,” Elizabeth says. “Even then, there’s enough land for our rural industries to co-exist. Forest owners are supportive of a mosaic approach to land use to ensure productivity of all rural sectors can continue while building environmental resilience in the face of a changing climate.” Elizabeth says the industry is already having extensive land use conversations across the board and working with various rural sectors. “We need a more unified approach to climate adaptation. We’re already having conversations with Federated Farmers, an organisation we share many members with. More >> Source: NZ Forest Owners Association  | ||
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