10. CHARLES CHAUVEL (Labour) Link to this
to the Minister of Forestry
How many hectares of new forestry have been planted since the election and how many hectares of new forestry does he expect will have been planted by November 2011?
Hon DAVID CARTER (Minister of Forestry) Link to this
For the benefit of the member, I tell him that new planting activity is a winter activity, and, therefore, official statistics for this winter’s planting will not be available until they are collated later in the year. As to the second part of the question, a number of variables such as ultimate climate change policy and log prices will determine planting rates between now and 2011. I am not prepared to speculate at this stage.
Is the Minister concerned about reports from forest owners that say that delays to the emissions trading scheme are preventing them from selling credits domestically, further discouraging investment in new plantings; and how does he reconcile this with his comments that the emissions trading scheme “means foresters can invest with some certainty”?
I am concerned that the current situation creates a degree of uncertainty for foresters. I have made that comment to foresters. However, it is far more important that this time we get the emissions trading legislation right and bring back to the House something that will get widespread support from the politicians in this Parliament.
Shane ArdernThe most up-to-date complete figures I have seen are from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and are for 2007, the year that is now referred to as the year of the “chainsaw massacre”. In that particular year, New Zealand experienced the worst deforestation since records began in 1951.
Has the Minister seen comments from Professor Euan Mason and David Evison of Canterbury University’s School of Forestry that “in order to avoid a serious problem in our future national greenhouse gas accounts we need to increase the rate of new planting right now”; and how does he expect this to happen given reports that the Government is incorrect in saying that its plans to water down the emissions trading scheme will somehow encourage new plantings?
I have not seen the comments to which the member refers. I do believe it is important that we get more plantings to help meet our commitments to Kyoto. But it is most important to get climate change legislation back into the House as quickly as possible, and it should be legislation that will be signed up to by a good proportion of this Parliament so that we finally get certainty, not only for the forestry sector but for every other sector in the economy.
Instead of referring to the irrelevant record of previous Governments, does the Minister not think it is time, nearly 9 months into his term of office, that he takes responsibility for representing the forestry sector and fronts up about how he will ensure that the emissions trading scheme provides strong incentives for foresters to plant new forests?