forest talk
Drop the politics
bottom of the table. Importantly for the public to MISUNDERSTANDING OF THE ROLE OF FORESTRY receive total disclosure, Beef + Lamb NZ fail to in climate change may rob New Zealand of one of give the numbers context. The total of whole the few remedies available, says New Zealand farms sold to forestry interests that year Farm Forestry President, Graham West. He was less than 0.5% of the area in pastoral adds that “misuse of information that’s farming. Far from “ripping the guts out of building alarm and public hysteria around rural communities” the change is less than forestry is not helpful”. what a free-market economy would expect This comes on the back of a Beef + anyway. Their report usefully maps where Lamb NZ and Federated Farmers statement these changes occurred and show it was not on recent results of an opinion survey on concentrated in any district. Instead, they are forestry offset. widely dispersed and occurred in almost every “Picking selective facts from surveys they New Zealand Farm region of New Zealand,” says Mr West. commissioned is building a narrative that suits their Forestry President, “These leaders have also said in radio interviews political purposes and deflects from the real issues,” Graham West. that farming should not be held responsible for says Mr West. “Asking those surveyed whether they cooling the climate. I don’t see why not. Farming’s support a limit on forestry offsets to mitigate fossil fuel emissions or whether there is concern around the conversion contribution to heating the planet is evident in all the emissions of farms to forests to meet climate change, addresses only a part reports going back 40-50 years. Farming’s leadership should of the issue. Both avoid the obvious question, ‘What alternatives be addressing the lack of progress in reducing global warming do you prefer?’. A more relevant question might be, ‘What global instead of deflecting public awareness on to the issue of a temperature increase is acceptable before we start using land use relatively small area being sold to forestry interests. “Current flooding, droughts and windstorms indicate climate change as a method of cooling the planet?’.” Beef + Lamb NZ also released an update on whole farms sold change will destroy rural economies at significant scale unless to forestry interests. They reported that in 2021 a total 52,000 ha tree crops are used to provide financial and environmental buffering. We need a better-informed debate than this. Let’s drop was sold. “They ignore that 2,292 was to Manuka interests, and only the politics and deal to the issues – all the primary sector depends 19,717 was for carbon forestry. They simply use a total from the on the weather. New Zealand cannot afford climate change.” NZL
Incompetence or theft? NATIONAL’S FORESTRY SPOKESPERSON, IAN MCKELVIE, SAYS some foresters could be millions of dollars out of pocket thanks to a poorly communicated change in application deadlines. “The Ministry of Primary Industries sent an email to foresters announcing that it was moving the effective deadline to register forests for the Emissions Trading Scheme from the last day of the year to 25 October 2022, simply due to long processing times in their office. “This left forest owners just three working days to submit their applications. Following that date, their applications will not be processed until 2023. This change will prevent some forest owners from claiming five years’ worth of backdated credits to 2018. “Some forest owners stand to lose millions of dollars as a result of this poorly communicated change. An owner of a large native forest in the South Island claims he will lose $6–$8 million. This is more
than just incompetence, it is theft. “Newly revealed information shows processing times to register a forest in the ETS have more than doubled in the last five years, while staff numbers have also doubled in the same period. “Foresters should not be punished because of mismanagement and a lack of leadership from Government. “It is crucial that landowners who planted their native and exotic trees in good faith are treated fairly. It is not good enough that foresters had almost no notice to submit their applications and stand to lose millions, simply because MPI isn’t prepared. “To maintain confidence in the ETS, the Government must honour the commitment to issue backdated credits for the current return period. The Government should direct MPI to allow forests with backdated credits that apply in 2022 to be registered in the same year.” NZL
4 NZ LOGGER | December 2022/January 2023
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