New Zealand is tightening rules on forest planting to exert more control on the amount of farmland being converted for either logging or carbon offset.
(Bloomberg) — New Zealand is tightening rules on forest planting to exert more control on the amount of farmland being converted for either logging or carbon offset.
The government is amending regulations to empower local councils to decide which land can be used for forests, Forestry Minister Peeni Henare said Wednesday in Wellington. Standards such as ensuring firebreaks and limiting planting next to lakes or wetlands will be required for any farm conversion, he said.
“These changes are about getting the right tree in the right place, by seeing fewer pine forests planted on farmland and more on less productive land,” Henare said. “This gets the balance right by giving communities a voice, while not restricting the purchasing of land or ability for farmers to choose to sell their farms to whomever they want.”
The government is responding to concerns about local and foreign investors buying up large swathes of New Zealand farmland and planting it with trees, either for eventual harvest or as permanent forests that attract carbon credits. A report for Beef+Lamb New Zealand estimated more than 102,000 hectares (252,000 acres) were bought for conversion from January 2020 to June 2022.
Forestry contributes about NZ$6.5 billion ($4 billion) a year to the economy and provides more than 35,000 jobs, Henare said.
“Afforestation provides sequestration to offset gross emissions, bioenergy to support a low carbon transition and substitution for higher carbon materials,” he said. “However, large-scale change in land use for exotic carbon forestry, if left unchecked and without any management oversight or requirements, has the potential for unintended impacts on the environment, rural communities, and regional economies.”
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