Is the New ETS Good or Bad?
A new report by the Sustainability Council suggests that New Zealand taxpayers will be substanially subsidising agriculture green house emissions under the proposed ETS.
PM John Key has told us that there is about 1 million hectares of marginal land in New Zealand available for tree planting. That would offset an aweful lot of greenhouse gasses from farming. Ironically, most of this marginal land sits side by side with farms.
Here’s a radical concept. Couldn’t we ask the agriculture sector to take responsibility for offsetting their emmissions by planting up this land? Once upon a time we used to call this appropriate tree/pasture balance “good husbandry”. A term the dairy industry seems to have forgotten in its enthusiasm for expansion and profits. Farm forestry was once a buz term in New Zealand but has gone quite in recent decades as plantation forestry economics have struggled vis a vis those from pure agriculture. Howver, whilst many farmers might struggle to write out a check to offset their carbon emissions, they could be more agreeable to planting the unproductive back paddock in trees.
As the EU positions for Copenhagen by supporting timber from plantations being recognised as a valid carbon sink, there is an opportunity to get the relative economics of farming and foresty back to an attractive package. One of Al Gore’s 7 climate change pledges is “plant trees”. With one million hectares of land suitable for this in New Zealand, why don’t we get on with it? A Green Brand New Zealand strategy is required to get our sectors - like agriculture and forestry – working together and helping each other.
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Tags: 100% Pure New Zealand, clean & green, clean & green NZ, Clean and Green, clean and green New Zealand, Copenhagen protocol, Emission Trading Scheme, Emissions Trading Scheme, ets, farm forestry, good husbandry, Kaitiakitanga, Nick Smith, Sustainability Council
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