Opinion:
Green rating actively encouraging concrete and steel
Climate
corner: Carbon trading
Forestry
Approved Code of Practice & Best Practice Guidelines review
Review
of Key Parts of the Biosecurity Act 1993
Deadline
for notifying deforestation coming up
Forest
Industry and Wood Availability Forecasts
Land
and Water Forum’s website
Continuous
pyrolysis moves a step closer for sawmills
New
Scion bioenergy report
Double-digit
growth for wood pellets in next 5 years
Future
Forestry Finance 2009
President
Patrick
Milne patrick@cypress.co.nz
-Nelson
-Marlborough
-North Canterbury
-Central canterbury
-West Coast
Vice President
John Dermer dermer@farmside.co.nz
-Middle districts
-Tararua
-Waikato
-Wairarapa
-Wellington
Newsletter
editor
Dean Satchell
dsatch@xtra.co.nz
National Executive
Denis Hocking jdhocking@xtra.co.nz
-Waitomo
-Taupo & Districts
-Hawkes Bay
-Taranaki
Ian Jackson ijacko@xtra.co.nz
-Ashburton
-South Canterbury
-North Otago
-Sthn High Country (north)
Neil Cullen cullen@farmside.co.nz
-Mid Otago
-South Otago
-Southland
-Men of Trees
-Sthn High Country (south)
Dean Satchell dsatch@xtra.co.nz
-Far North
-Mid North
-Lower North
-South Auckland |
Notices
Elections for NZFFA National Office-Holders at the Invercargill
Conference in April 2010
Patrick Milne, the current NZFFA President, retires at the
Invercargill Conference after serving a 2-year term and an additional
1-year term. Patrick remains on the Executive for a one year as
Immediate Past President. Current Vice President John Dermer of Middle Districts
Branch is the only nomination for President.
National Executive members retiring by rotation at
the Invercargill Conference in April are Denis Hocking (North Island)
and Ian Jackson (South Island). Denis Hocking is not available
for re-election. One extraordinary vacancy for South Island
Executive member is being carried forward from previous years.
The remaining members of the Executive, unaffected by this year’s
elections, are Neil Cullen (South Island) and Dean Satchell (North
Island).
Nominations received for North Island Executive Member are Hamish Levack (Wellington Branch)
and Angus Gordon
(Middle Districts Branch). As an extra vacancy will be created by
John Dermer becoming President, the number of North Island nominations
will equal the vacancies.
The only nomination for South Island Executive Member is Ian Jackson.
Thus one vacancy remains for a South Island Executive Member.
Nominations from South Island branches are being called for this
remaining vacancy. If you are interested in proposing someone as
a nominee (even yourself), please do so at your branch’s annual meeting
or otherwise contact the officers of your branch. Nominations
close on 17 March 2010 and the forms are available from NZFFA National
Office. Note National Executive nominees are usually expected to
attend the Conference Council meeting at which the election is held.
Next Meeting of National Executive – 11 February
The February meeting focuses on the budget and
planning for the 2010 financial year and upcoming events like
Conference. Please advise your Executive member of any other
matters you want raised.
Agenda items for the Invercargill Conference
A reminder for branch annual meetings of the
opportunities to propose agenda items for meetings at conference.
There are (at least) three available forums:
Branch Management
Meeting – concerned with running of branches and internal
organisation of the association.
Council Meeting
– The governing body of the association and key link between the
branches and the National Executive. Where the Executive reports
on its performance during the year and new policy is formulated.
Business Session
of AGM
– where the major issues affecting the association can be reviewed and
all members present have an opportunity to have their say.
Agenda items and
notices of motion must be sent to National Office before 15 March.
Opinion: Green rating actively encouraging
concrete and steel
The
Green Building council continue to make us second rate citizens
until certification is a realistic option for small growers. Looks like
wood will need to be fsc certified to earn points which is not
currently realistic for small growers, leaving alternative species out
in the dark. As for radiata, evidence is growing that architects have a
rather low opinion of the timber, and especially treated radiata (NZIF
newsletter 4/12/09, account of Akld NZIF meeting). Currently Australia
are negotiating an agreement on whether or not their RMA equivalent
could be seen to be "sustainable" under the Australian GBC (A report on
the sustainable management of New Zealand's forests and the Montreal
Process is available on the MAF website).
To add insult to injury Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) research which had
been previously completed by Barbara Nebel at Scion (funded by WPA and
the government) has not been accepted as a basis for assessing the
performance of materials in a residential rating tool as it is seen by
GBC to be "at the early stages of research". Doesn't seem that hard to
me for green building to be based on robust Life Cycle Analysis with
carbon footprinting such an essential part of dealing with climate
change.
Are GBC dragging the chains or
are concrete and steel interests pulling the strings? Dan Mcallum has
prepared an excellent paper on Nelson Forests supply chain, which was
analysed from cradle to market using a carbon calculator developed for
Nelson Forests. The calculator follows life cycle analysis (LCA)
principles and methodologies from leading international standards.
Dean Satchell
(top)
Climate corner: Carbon Trading
Dr Gavin Kenny, Earthwise
Consulting Ltd responded to my editorial in Newsletter 52:
Carbon trading was never a sensible response to climate change. As
quoted in this recent report
“the current emphasis on carbon price as the key element of the climate
change solution is dangerously misleading.” The very first IPCC
assessment, published in the early 1990s, talked about the potential
co-benefits of a combined approach to adaptation (responding to the
effects of climate change) and mitigation (reducing or offsetting GHG
emissions). Somehow talk of co-benefits got lost, a handful of
scientists focused on impacts and adaptation assessment through the
1990s, and a heap of people got interested in mitigation, particularly
the economists. As climate change has become more of a reality
(for
those who believe the science, and I am one who does) there has been
increased attention to adaptation over the last decade and more talk of
‘co-benefits’. So what do co-benefits mean?
In a practical sense it means doing what smart farmers, including farm
foresters, have been doing for decades. If you draw together the
lessons from practical farmers, which I have been doing for the last 9
years, you get a comprehensive picture of farm resilience. A
resilient
farm with trees for multiple benefits, with well managed soils (eg.
minimal or no reliance on N fertiliser, a focus on building or
maintaining organic matter and deep rooted pasture) and well managed
pasture, stock and water, has in-built capacity to buffer against
climate extremes (and climate change) and is providing multiple
benefits in terms of carbon storage and reduced emissions. It’s
common
sense to the farmers who are doing this sort of thing. But
unfortunately it hasn’t really been on the radar of our politicians and
many of our scientists.
My view is that if we want to be really serious about climate change,
and our collective future even if you don’t believe in climate change,
then investment in developing a true ecological mosaic as a foundation
for a truly sustainable economy (the two go hand in hand) would be a
far more sensible approach. It would be the best investment any
government could make for our future. We need to be looking at
everything we can do to protect and enhance our land and water
resources ... building long-term resilience is the real solution.
If
we get the ecology right the economics will follow. To achieve
that
will require a level of intelligence and wisdom that exists within NZ
(if you know the right people!), but has been sadly lacking in our
political leadership for too long.
Thanks Gavin. Editorial comment always welcome. Theres a good article here
on the question of whether the fate of the worlds indigenous
forests—and their people—will rest on the ability of industries to pay
for preserving distant trees rather than reducing emissions closer to
home.
Oh....For those of you interested in cash for your forest carbon, Greenair
has completed the sale and the money banked for the first sale of
collated N. Z. carbon credits (involving multiple forestry owners).
As for the value of carbon markets, I would draw your attention to this
article:
The next big scam: carbon dioxide
and this website:
Carbon Watch
Dean Satchell
Report: Forestry Insurance, Risk Pooling and Risk Mitigation Options
The NZU regime penalises a reduction of sequestered carbon by
requiring surrender of NZUs to the Government. Such a reduction may
occur from harvesting or from adverse events such as disease, fire or
wind throw.
There are two main risks associated with carbon sequestration under the
NZU regime. Firstly there is the risk of adverse events (referred to as
“technical risk” in the report) unexpectedly reducing sequestered
carbon and creating a NZU liability. Secondly there is the risk
(referred to as “market risk” in the report) that NZUs may have been
sold to generate pre-harvest revenue and at harvest time the forest
owner may need to buy NZUs to surrender to the Government. However at
harvest time the market price of NZUs may be higher than when NZUs were
sold.
Pooling of risk is a possible way that both these risks may be
mitigated. Forestry in a New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme
examines the economic and legal issues related to pooling and managing
risk.
(top)
Forestry Approved Code of Practice & Best
Practice Guidelines review
NZFOA, FITEC and other forest industry representatives will be running
a project through the first half of 2010 that will see a review of the
DoL Approved Code of Practice for Safety and Health in Forest
Operations and the 18 FITEC Best Practice Guidelines covering a wide
range of forestry related operations and activities.
We are keen to have involvement from as much of the industry as
possible and this includes the likes of the Farm Forestry Association.
I would be interested in hearing about what level of involvement your
association might like to have in this project. Options range from
having representation on the steering committee to nominating subject
matter experts to be involved in review of rules and best practice for
specific activities to assisting with communication of the project and
project outcomes to those involved in the industry.
As the first stage of the project, we are developing a survey that will
be circulated to people involved in the industry. This will gauge the
level of knowledge and use of the existing documents and also survey
some options for how the documents may be packaged in the future i.e.
one document containing rules and best practice / a separate rules book
plus 2 or 3 best practice guides combining some of the exiting guides /
status quo.
This survey should be ready for circulation early in 2010 and I would
be keen to discuss ways of getting the survey out to your members.
I look forward to your thoughts on how FFA might want to be involved In
this project.
Mark Preece
(FITEC)
(top)
Review of Key Parts of the Biosecurity Act 1993
The Minister for Biosecurity plans to introduce a Biosecurity Amendment
Bill into the House during the second half of 2010. He has asked MAF to
finalise policy proposals by mid 2010.
Changes in technology, new approaches to managing risk, and a drive for
improved efficiencies mean that the Biosecurity Act 1993 has not kept
up with the changing face of New Zealand’s biosecurity system. The
project will focus on the need for change in key areas rather than
reviewing all aspects of the Act.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) has prepared an information paper (115 KB) to introduce the
priority areas of the Act that appear to warrant amendment. For each of
the main subject areas, the paper sets out the drivers for change, what
should be different in the future and what might change in the Act. It
has been produced to aid discussions on what might form the basis of
specific changes to be introduced later this year.
(top)
Deadline for notifying deforestation coming up
The New Zealand Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry is reminding
owners of pre-1990 forest land that the deadline for notifying
deforestation is coming up. If deforestation of more than 2 hectares of
pre-1990 forest land occurred between 1 January 2008 and 31 December
2009 the person responsible is legally required to notify MAF by 31
January 2010.
Deforestation after 31 December 2009 of more than 2 hectares of
pre-1990 forest land must be notified to MAF within 20 working days of
starting the deforestation by the person responsible (usually the
landowner). Notification must be made using the notification form
available at www.maf.govt.nz
(top)
Forest Industry and Wood Availability Forecasts
MAF’s Forest Industry and Wood Availability Forecasts
provide information about plantation forests and the wood processing
industry in each wood supply region. They include forecasts of wood
availability from 2006 to 2040, and comment on the opportunities and
constraints facing the forest industry.
(top)
Land and Water Forum’s website
The Land and Water Forum’s website is now online - you can view it at www.landandwater.org.nz
(top)
Continuous pyrolysis moves a step closer for
sawmills
New Zealand sawmilling industry guru/pragmatist Doug Stewart has hit
the mark again with another innovative step towards closing the loop
with energy generation on sawmill sites. For sawmill managers it's an
exciting and truly "green" technology development. Stewart's pyrolysis
process for producing gas for site use from wood residues is rapidly
moving closer to commercial scale operation and production. As of this
week - continuous scale installation is now up and running in Rotorua.
This article is on Friday Offcuts
(top)
New Scion bioenergy report
cion has recently released the fifth and final report under the
three-year Bioenergy Options for NZ study. Transition Analysis
considers the potential for energy supply of woody biomass from
existing forests and drivers for change in NZ’s energy supply. The
earlier reports are: Bioenergy Options – Situation Analysis, Bioenergy
Options – Pathway Analysis, Research and Development Strategy and
Analysis of Large-scale Bioenergy from Forestry. The reports are
available here
(top)
Double-digit growth for wood pellets in next 5
years
Wood
pellets are underpinning the emergence of a new commodities business in
biomass. The key driver is bioenergy and Pöyry expects double digit
growth in pellet markets over the next five years. These are the main
findings of the study "Wood Pellets - The Bioenergy Feedstock Solution
- Global market, players and trade to 2015" published by Pöyry Forest
Industry Consulting.
The global wood pellet market is and will continue to be a growth area.
The current and future demand for wood pellets is strongly driven by
the world's need to develop renewable forms of energy and reduce
greenhouse gas emissions. For more see Friday Offcuts
(top)
Future Forestry Finance 2009
How does post-recession forestry in Australasia
stack up financially?
www.forestryfinanceevents.com 4-5th
March 2010, Auckland
Conference Topics will include:
- FORESTRY INVESTMENTS GLOBAL OVERVIEW
- FORESTRY INVESTMENT DEVELOPMENTS
- MAORI ENTERPRISES / MAORI LANDOWNERS / IWI COLLECTIVES ( New Zealand )
- FORESTRY INVESTMENT OPTIONS & DRIVERS
- GLOBAL COMPETITORS FOR FORESTRY INVESTMENT
- KEY INFLUENCING FACTORS (GOVERNMENT & INDUSTRY)
- CARBON FORESTRY FUTURES / CARBON TRADING
- BIO-ENERGY
Ask for 10% discount for NZFFA members. |
Farm Forestry New Zealand
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