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Federation To Press On With Tribunal Challenge
21 March 2007
FoMA Media Release
Federation To Press On With Tribunal Challenge
- The Federation of Maori Authorities has instructed legal counsel to prepare a Waitangi Tribunal challenge against the Government’s carbon credit confiscation and plans for retrospective taxes for land conversion.
- Article Two of the Treaty of Waitangi guarantees Maori undisturbed possession of fisheries, forests and other land.
- Undisturbed possession means the ownership of all rights pertaining to the forests and the right to economically develop the forestry estate and other land.
- The Govt’s confiscation of carbon credits and its plan to introduce retrospective taxes for those who want to change land use amount to a clear disturbance to these rights and a clear breach of the Treaty of Waitangi, including the Govt’s responsibility to act with the utmost good faith towards Maori.
- Maori also believe that, along with other NZ forest owners, Article Three of the Treaty of Waitangi prohibits confiscation and retrospective taxes without compensation.
- FOMA appreciates the Govt’s plans have not yet been finalised but it wants to be in a position to lodge a claim ASAP if the Govt confirms its policies, which is why legal counsel is already being instructed.
- FOMA continues to work with FOA, FFA and KFA on encouraging all Political parties to endorse the six point plan.
The New Zealand Forestry Industry's Six-Point Plan
1. Remove the inequitable, retrospective 'deforestation cap'.
2. Allow land owners with Kyoto-qualifying forests (forests planted from 1990) - as well as those replanting non-Kyoto forests after harvest - to financially benefit from the value of the carbon their forests remove from the atmosphere.
3. Introduce broad-based carbon charges, ensuring that all emitters of greenhouse gases face the same opportunity costs.
4. Ensure that New Zealand's Kyoto policies have the best long-term outcomes for New Zealand, even if they don't exactly mirror current Kyoto rules.
5. Develop a regime which puts a value on the environmental attributes of forestry, thereby encouraging investment in the sector.
6. Act immediately.
Ends
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