Government stops march of pines across farmland

The Government’s move to stop carbon credits being earned on productive farmland is welcome news, but changes must also be made to the way we set our international emissions targets, Federated Farmers says.

"This is great news from the Government that it will be taking steps to stop the relentless march of pine trees across our productive farmland," says forestry spokesperson Toby Williams.

"Federated Farmers made rethinking News Zealand’s ETS Forestry rules and climate targets one of our 12 key policy priorities in the lead-up to the last election.

"We’re really pleased - and farmers across the country will be too - that the Government is taking action today to address those concerns.

"Federated Farmers also welcome the cap on carbon farming on Class 6 land as a further step to safeguard against large-scale carbon farming."

Williams says New Zealand’s rural communities are bearing the brunt of misguided climate change targets, as over 200,000 hectares of productive sheep and beef land have been planted in carbon farming in the last five years alone.

"Alarmingly, we’ve seen sheep numbers in New Zealand fall 4.3% in just the last 12 months, and this comes on the back of decades of reductions.

"We’re seeing schools close, rural bus runs stop, and local clubs fail as jobs are lost from communities across rural New Zealand.

"Planting our rural communities in pine trees simply doesn’t align with the Paris Agreement requirement of achieving low-emission development in a way that doesn’t threaten food production.

"Today’s announcement brings New Zealand’s emissions trading policy more in line with the Paris Agreement, by removing the incentive to take high-quality land out of farming."

Williams says, importantly, people can still plant forest on their lands if they wish, so there is no impact on property rights.

"However, the Government simply won’t incentivise this behaviour by allowing these forests to earn carbon credits through the Government’s ETS.

"We understand these changes are also not retrospective, so won’t affect existing forests."

While today’s announcement addresses current ETS settings, the underlying issue remains the way our international climate targets continue to rely on huge levels of carbon farming to be achieved, Williams says.

"While it is a great announcement today, it’s also the case that the Government is currently doing a three-week consultation on what New Zealand’s next target should be under the Paris Agreement.

"Past governments have set targets that can be achieved only with huge levels of forestry planting, and that has put New Zealand in our current situation."

Modelling released by the Climate Change Commission suggested that, to achieve a new proposed 2035 Paris Target, New Zealand would plant up to 850,000 more hectares of forestry, reduce dairy cows by up to 15%, and reduce sheep and beef stock by up to 24%.

"I think most people would agree that’s a recipe for total ruin for a huge number of rural communities," Williams says.

"The numbers may add up on a spreadsheet in Wellington, but they make no sense to rural communities already suffering from falling stock numbers and encroaching carbon farming.

"To truly address the drivers of carbon farming, the Government needs to distance itself from such plans and make sure the new Paris Target it’s set to announce can be achieved without swamping rural communities in carbon farming and threatening food production in the process."