12. STEVE CHADWICK (Labour—Rotorua) Link to this
to the Minister of Conservation
What contribution is the conservation estate making to New Zealand’s efforts to offset carbon emissions?
Hon CHRIS CARTER (Minister of Conservation) Link to this
Climate change is the most significant challenge facing the world today. I recently announced that the Department of Conservation will tender to commercial investors six pilot projects to store carbon on the conservation estate, as part of the Labour-led Government’s commitment to sustainability. Successful projects will be a win-win for conservation and the environment, with the establishment of new forests to store carbon, and intensive pest control of exotic pests that emit carbon in areas not currently managed by the department.
How do these pilot carbon sequestration projects fit with other initiatives from the Labour-led Government to tackle global climate change?
Our 8 million hectare conservation estate makes a major contribution to New Zealand’s carbon profile. Since 1999 the Labour-led Government has pursued an active programme of protecting native forest and adding additional native forests to the areas under permanent protection. Just recently, my colleague the Minister of Forestry also announced an initiative to encourage the use of sustainable timber in new Government building projects.
Gerry BrownleeCan the Minister confirm that the calculation of New Zealand’s future Kyoto Protocol liabilities is based on what our position was in 1990, and takes no account of extra sinks that may now be in the conservation estate, and has his ministry done any work to see whether the extra sinks can be considered as part of our current carbon profile?
The Department of Conservation has been profiling a whole range of issues through which we can act as a responsible custodian of the conservation estate, and as active agents in dealing with the changing climate on Earth by storing carbon. A short answer to the member’s question is that we are looking at a range of issues to see where we can be helpful.
I will try to be more precise for the Minister. Does he accept that the carbon liability that we will face in 2012 takes account of only the sinks in our conservation forests up until 1990, and that since 1990 considerable extra carbon has been stored in the conservation estate; and what work is his department doing to ensure that the calculation is changed so that we get the benefit of that additional carbon store, because all the talk in the world about managing it means nothing if we do not get the credit for it?
I am not sure whether I would agree with the member that there has been considerable addition to carbon sequestration in the conservation estate. We still battle, for instance, with 60 million possums chewing their way through our forests. Total pest numbers have not fallen. Although the area of the conservation estate has grown by some 350,000 hectares under my stewardship—
I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. We seem to be at cross purposes here. I asked about carbon credits. Carbon credits are not furry and noxious like possums. I wonder whether the Minister might start talking about what is under the trees rather than what is in the trees.
Madam SPEAKER