The New Zealand Institute of Forestry welcome the COP21 agreement

The New Zealand Institute of Forestry (NZIF) welcomes the latest international agreement on climate change and challenges the Government to lift its game. “As a New Zealander I am embarrassed about how little we are doing to reduce climate change” said President of NZIF James Treadwell. “As a country, until agriculture, our largest emitting sector, is included into the emissions trading scheme, New Zealand is unlikely to be seen as doing its fair share.”

“The COP21 agreement to keep climate change below 2 degrees is unlikely to occur unless all countries take action immediately. In New Zealand this means all sectors need to be in the ETS and we need to take a serious look at additional tree planting, either production or native.”

“NZIF has been calling for additional planting for many years. Currently the incentives are all for the opposite; deforestation and conversion to riculture.”

Mr Treadwell is calling on the Government to immediately review their current commitment to reducing climate change and to encourage a national conversation about tree planting. “If every person in New Zealand planted 1 tree this year then we could absorb 100,000 tonnes of carbon per annum for the life of those trees. If every New Zealander planted a tree every year then the amount of carbon being absorbed coul grow rapidly, in 10 years time we could be fixing one million tonnes per annum.”

“Our members have the necessary skills and willingness to help establish wide scale planting, either of commercial or native forests. What is missing is encouragement from the Government for this to occur.”

“Climate change will have a major effect on New Zealander’s lifestyle and urces of income, it is therefore incomprehendible this Government is ignoring such an easy solution as tree planting. After all tree planting is recognised as an immediate natural solution for absorbing carbon dioxide.”

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