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Tree Grower articles

  • The Permanent Forest Sink Initiative nine years on - What is the PFSI and what has it achieved?
    Stuart Orme, November 2015
    The Permanent Forest Sink Initiative or PFSI forms part of New Zealand’s climate change response which was established in 2006. It allowed land owners to make a commitment to establishing…
  • Deadlines for the Emissions Trading Scheme and safe carbon
    Stuart Orme, May 2015
    Growers with forests still in the ETS need to be aware of a couple of deadlines coming up. One is the voluntary emissions returns for 2014 and the other is…
  • Emissions Trading Scheme alive and kicking weakly
    Stuart Orme, February 2015
    The ETS is alive and kicking, sort of. The latest advice from the government is that the ETS is here to stay. The guide price suggested for New Zealand Units…
  • Retrospective law affecting the ETS Bad government?
    Stuart Orme, August 2014
    In a move widely deemed as unfair and without precedent, in the May 2014 budget the government introduced a retrospective law, the Climate Change Response (Unit Restriction) Amendment Act 2014.…
  • Storm damage and obligations under the Emissions Trading Scheme
    Ollie Belton, August 2014
    The last twelve months has seen a series of major storms across New Zealand, and if climate science predictions prove correct we are likely to see increases in storm intensity…
  • Leaving the ETS - Potential problems for owners of post-1989 forests
    Ollie Belton, May 2014
    International units have ruined the New Zealand carbon market. Ironically these same cheap units have also allowed many forest owners to wipe their carbon debt for as little as 25…
  • Is your forest ETS compliant?
    Ollie Belton, February 2014
    With the crash of the New Zealand carbon market over the past two years, coupled with resurgent log prices, the Emissions Trading Scheme has faded into the background for most…
  • The ETS here and overseas
    Stuart Orme, August 2013
    Forget fairness, logic and justice. The ETS is all about managing risk and seizing opportunity. As I write this article I am just back from my third trip to China…
  • Remove your ETS obligation for very little cost
    Stuart Orme, May 2013
    It has been suggested that the ETS has passed its sell-by date and there is little more to say. I would suggest that this could be yet another view versus…
  • Forget offsetting - You can now deforest for less than $300 a hectare
    Stuart Orme, February 2013
    Under the ETS, owners of pre-1990 forest land become emitters and are required to surrender units if they deforest. This applies if you clear trees from more than two hectares…
  • Is the Doha result a disaster for New Zealand forestry?
    Geoff Thompson, February 2013
    New Zealand has miscued its international climate change response and the forest industry will suffer. The withdrawal of New Zealand from a second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol has…
  • Select Committee fails to fix ETS Amendment Bill
    Stuart Orme, November 2012
    The Finance and Expenditure Select Committee released its report on the Climate Change Response Amendment Bill in mid-October. Disappointingly, it remained mainly unchanged from its first reading. The comments of…
  • A message about the ETS - Get informed, get involved or get hamstrung
    Stuart Orme, August 2012
    The Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) has recently been highlighted in the media as the government announced a number of changes to be implemented in legislation to be passed later this…
  • Is your forest sunk by carbon?
    Matt Hanna, August 2012
    Valuing a forest for sale before the ETS was introduced was a two-part story of land and trees. Now post-1990 forest owners have to consider what value carbon in their…
  • Permanent Forest Sink Initiative and trees for protection and profit
    Mark Belton, August 2012
    Forestry is often seen as a threat to farming communities, especially where entire hill country farms are sold up and planted wall-to-wall with radiata pine. However, there are many roles…
  • Carbon credits - Is New Zealand in surplus or deficit?
    Stuart Orme, May 2012
    I understand that the government believes the country is in surplus for carbon credits and will meet its Kyoto obligations. This is calculated by the amount of carbon in the…
  • Opportunities for carbon forestry
    Stuart Orme, February 2012
    ‘Come to Africa,’ my daughter chirped over skype three months ago ‘it will be cool’. In fact on the top of Mt Kilimanjaro at 5,895 metres above sea level just…
  • Carbon insurance liability
    Geoff Manks, February 2012
    You may be a forester growing trees for the purpose of trading your carbon credits, or you may provide professional advice to those involved in carbon forestry, or carry out…
  • Emissions Trading Scheme facing significant challenges
    Geoff Thompson, February 2012
    The Cabinet is expected to make decisions very soon about the recommendations of the ETS Review panel’s report. It will be dealing with them in the context of the latest…
  • ETS almost four years old
    Stuart Orme, November 2011
    Within two months of you receiving this issue of Tree Grower the ETS in New Zealand as we know it will be four years old – effectively born on the…
  • The cost of doing nothing - ETS dates loom for small forest owners
    Stuart Orme, August 2011
    At the risk of sounding repetitive, owners of pre-1990 forestry land are captured by the legislation whether they look for compensatory credits or not. This extends over pines, willows, poplars,…
  • Carbon measurements that forest owners will have to make
    Hamish Levack, May 2011
    Last year MAF proposed a field measurement approach to determine carbon stocks in post-1989 forest land. As one of the interested stakeholders, the NZFFA has considered the proposal and suggested…
  • To sell or not to sell?
    Stuart Orme, May 2011
    We would like to think that members of the NZFFA must be some of the better informed forest owners in New Zealand. Undoubtable the allocation of credits for owners of…
  • Making cents for Northland farms with the ETS
    John-Paul Praat and Bob Thomson, May 2011
    The ETS imposes increased costs on everyone and of course no one thinks that is fair, farmers included. However, the ETS presents some farmers with opportunities to make money. The…
  • Carbon measurements that forest owners will have to make
    Hamish Levack, May 2011
    Last year MAF proposed a field measurement approach to determine carbon stocks in post-1989 forest land. As one of the interested stakeholders, the NZFFA has considered the proposal and suggested…
  • Will it be possible to get registered in time?
    Stuart Orme, February 2011
    Emission returns Emission returns are currently being received up to 31 March 2011 for credits sequestered for 2008 to 2010. Remember that when doing the return the legislation requires that…
  • Insuring carbon in your trees
    Geoff Manks, November 2010
    It is reasonable to ask how you can insure something which without help, you cannot see, hear or feel. Following the introduction of the ETS, forest owners who trade their…
  • Forestry rights and the ETS
    Stuart Orme, November 2010
    The advent of the ‘forestry right’ some three decades ago has allowed land owners, along with someone without an interest in the land, to invest and own forests together in…
  • Forestry and wood and the ETS
    Wink Sutton, August 2010
    If we want to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide why have we limited the forestry contribution to carbon sequestration? Since we cannot go on increasing new planting for ever, the carbon…
  • Pre 1990 forest land allocation plan and new indigenous look-up tables
    Stuart Orme, August 2010
    This is the third in a series of articles relating to the ETS as it affects land owners and forest growers. Pre 1990 forest land allocation plan MAF expects that…
  • Allocation or exemption opportunity
    Stuart Orme, May 2010
    You have twelve months from the 1 July this year to apply for your pre 1990 forest allocation of compensation credits, or to apply for a future deforestation exemption. With…
  • Turning MAF policy into profit
    Stuart Orme, February 2010
    This is the first in a series of articles about forests and carbon. Future articles will look at compensatory payments of credits to pre-1990 forest owners, tax implications and how…
  • Managing carbon trading risk using redwood
    Paul Silcock, November 2009
    Plantation grown coast redwood is a species eminently suitable for long term carbon sequestration. Other articles in this issue of Tree Grower describe the attributes that make this tree a…
  • Letter to the editor - Afforestation Grant Scheme
    John Simmons, August 2009
    Dear Sir, Afforestation Grant Scheme I would like to express my views as an Association member and frustration as an applicant on behalf of the Waikato Branch acting for a…
  • The rules applying to deforestation exemptions
    Allan Laurie, August 2009
    I have received a number of calls from clients, particularly those owning land that contains trees planted pre-1990, anticipating or perhaps considering applying for a deforestation exemption. Below is a…
  • Indigenous forestry options for trading in carbon credits
    Warwick Silvester, February 2009
    The Kyoto protocol requires us to control or mitigate our carbon emissions. Trees as major carbon sinks are seen as one of the best ways to implement this. Four schemes…
  • Carbon update
    Piers MacLaren, November 2008
    The Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) is now law. The rules regarding forestry may bring great riches to some, great pain to others, and a shrug of the shoulders to everyone…
  • Carbon gains, losses and risks
    Piers Maclaren, February 2008
    You own a forest. You have heard about the government’s new Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) but it seems very complicated. There is a huge amount to read and absorb. Do…

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Articles and Reports

  • Video guidance
    Ministry for Primary Industries, June 2018 (Access: unrestricted)
    MPI has created a series of short videos (5 minutes each) to help participants with MER calculations. The 11 video series covers all aspects of emissions returns, from the basics…
  • Climate change and agriculture: Understanding the biological greenhouse gases
    the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, October 2016 (Access: unrestricted)
    In this report the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment examines the issue of agricultural greenhouse gases – methane and nitrous oxide – which together form about half of New Zealand’s…
  • New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme review 2015/16 Consultation
    NZFFA, February 2016 (Access: unrestricted)
    Submission by NZ Farm Forestry Association (pdf) »
  • Do Carbon offsets work? The role of forest management in greenhouse gas mitigation
    United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service, August 2013 (Access: unrestricted)
    Report from the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service on the role of forest carbon in combatting climate change. Some excerpts: Ultimately carbon trades allow businesses to continue to…
  • Food, Fuel and Famine
    Mike Malloy, July 2011 (Access: unrestricted)
    For thousands of years, humans have dreamed of finding a way to escape the Rule of Famine. In the second half of the 20th century, they thought that they had…
  • Environmental Impacts of Multi-Storey Buildings using Different Construction Materials
    BRANZ, July 2009 (Access: unrestricted)
    Using a real six-story concrete building being erected at the University of Canterbury as the template, researchers "built" another three virtual buildings with the same characteristics as the template. One…
  • Comment on forestry and climate change
    E. G. Mason and David Evison, July 2009 (Access: unrestricted)
    The forestry sector makes large direct and indirect contributions to the mitigation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from New Zealand, and its contribution could be even larger if we set…

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Blogs

  • Fruit Hanging at Close to Ground Level: Denis Hocking's blog, December 21, 2014
    On his return from the Climate Change Conference in Lima, earlier this month, Climate Change Minister, Hon. Tim Groser claimed that New Zealand was in a difficult position because it…
  • Gobal emissions and biofuels: Dean Satchell's blog, October 09, 2014
    Global emissions of carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels and cement production grew 2.3 percent to a record high of 36 billion tonnes CO2 in 2013. CSIRO's Dr Pep Canadell,…

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Headlines

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Other Sources of Information

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Farm Forestry - Headlines

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