RNZ Politics HeadlinesLandmark case could force rewrite of emissions strategy
Euan Mason@rnzbot_political
A) #Carbon forests are a temporary solution. In aggregate they are reliable, relatively risk-free C stores, but storage in any given hectare has limits, so judicious tree planting can save us time while we reduce emissions, but we need a plan to actually reduce gross emissions.
B) The rate of C sequestration & maximum storage vary with site, species & management of trees/ha. Estimates of storage vs these variables are debatable. #nzpol #climateChange #forest
A) #Carbon forests are a temporary solution. In aggregate they are reliable, relatively risk-free C stores, but storage in any given hectare has limits, so judicious tree planting can save us time while we reduce emissions, but we need a plan to actually reduce gross emissions.
B) The rate of C sequestration & maximum storage vary with site, species & management of trees/ha. Estimates of storage vs these variables are debatable. #nzpol #climateChange #forest
@rnzbot_political And yeah, I know what I’m talking about. I have years of research on this topic, accompanied by peer-reviewed papers and book chapters. Happy to discuss or debate these points, so long as discussion is evidence-based and conducted in an honorable, kind, and sober fashion. #forestry #climateChange #nzpol #climatePolicy
JustSaying@TreeStarMan @rnzbot_political and of course most of these tree are planted by forestry to be cut down
@ArrestJK @rnzbot_political Some are, and some aren’t. If they are harvested and re-established after felling then the average long-term C store is roughly 65-70% of total C storage at time of harvest. Our emissions trading scheme has rules to accommodate this. If a plantation of exotics is planted after 1989 for harvest and registered with the ETS, then credits are awarded only up to age 16 & in the first rotation only. 1/
@ArrestJK @rnzbot_political If the forest owner with an ETS-registered forest fails to re-establish the forest after harvest then they are liable for the lost C. If a pre-1990 forest owner doesn’t re-establish after harvest, even though they aren’t in the scheme, they are liable for lost C. There was a small, inadequate award of C credits to owners of pre-1990 forests to “compensate” for this loss of land-use flexibility. This was a difficult issue to resolve. 2/2