Give Us Back Our Credits And We’ll Bridge The Kyoto Deficit, Says KFA

Give us back our credits and we’ll bridge the Kyoto deficit, the Kyoto Forestry Association (KFA) said today.

The association was commenting on today’s announcement of work by the former head of the Government’s climate change team, Murray Ward, and National Party MP Nick Smith that New Zealand’s Kyoto deficit is NZ$1.7 billion rather than the NZ$656 million recorded in the Government’s official accounts.

“The new figures look credible and the Government’s accounts could well do with an audit,” KFA spokesman Roger Dickie said. “If anything, Mr Ward and Dr Smith may have undervalued the future price of carbon. Sir Nicholas Stern has suggested that the social cost of carbon is more like €62 per tonne rather than the €16 Mr Ward and Dr Smith have cited.”

Mr Dickie said he also feared that the Ministry of Agriculture & Forestry (MAF) estimate that 47,000 hectares would be deforested during the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol would turn out to be too conservative.

“Forestry investors need confidence that Government commitments can be relied on over 25 or 30 years,” Mr Dickie said. “The Government’s decision in 2002 to reverse its long-standing commitment that forestry investors would own the credits they earned from planting trees through the 1990s has caused a collapse in confidence in the industry. That is why we are seeing net deforestation in New Zealand for the first time in living memory.

“If the Government were to give us back our credits, confidence would be restored and forestry investors would re-invest in the industry to help bridge this worsening Kyoto deficit.”

Mr Dickie said he was pleased Dr Smith had restated the National Party policy, announced formally by Opposition Leader John Key on 12 March, that forest owners should get a proportion of the carbon credits they have accrued since 1990. Similar commitments have been made by the Green, Maori and Act parties, while United Future said this week it has an open mind on the issue.

Mr Dickie said the forestry industry continued to urge all political parties to endorse the six point plan to get forest planting underway again, agreed last year by all key players in the industry, including the New Zealand Forest Owners Association (NZFOA), the New Zealand Farm Forestry Association (NZFFA), the Federation of Maori Authorities (FOMA) and KFA, after work with Government officials.

The plan includes recognition of the industry’s property rights in order to restore investor confidence.

ENDS

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