Please refer below.

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P R E S S R E L E A S E

Launch of a deforestation liability calculator

The Climate Change legislation has clearly signalled that there was to be a considerable liability associated with deforesting pre-1990 planted land. While it has been talked about, the basis of this liability has not been well understood. The recently published draft Regulations spell out exactly what this liability will be in terms of CO2 emissions.

The ValueAdd Company has today launched an online interactive calculator based on the draft regulations. It can be accessed at www.carboncalcs.com/nz/deforest.

For Pinus radiata, the country has been divided up into nine regions, five in the North Island and four in the South Island. The differences over the country are quite significant. For example, in Gisborne, the fastest growing area, a 28 year old forest has 814 tonnes of CO2 per hectare while in Canterbury-West Coast (the slowest growing region) the figure is 520 tonnes, a difference of 296 tonnes.

The calculator can also undertake calculations for Douglas fir, other softwoods and hardwoods, each of which are defined in the Regulations. The sequestration rates for these species are the same throughout NZ.

Included in the calculations are annual sequestration rates over any given number of years. This can be used for anyone considering carbon farming. A capitalisation sum is also given at a user definable discount rate.

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