Listen Now: 
A lawyer involved in advocating for Māori on the emissions trading scheme, Willie Te Aho, says a collapse in the carbon price is a double edged sword for Māori.
Te Rūnanga ō Ngāti Awa is likely to write off its investment in a scheme to forest some of its land, because the carbon credits it would earn are priced far below the $25 a tonne level it needs.
Willie Te Aho says others can benefit from the price falling below $5 a tonne.
“Now for those that want to deforest their lands are likely owners of Crown forest license land in the Central North Island area. They want the NZU or the price for carbon to be low, so that when they cut down the trees and put farming on it, there's little to pay. For others, there is no real other alternative use of their land but forestry and holding that NZU is the only option,” Willie Te Aho says.
Copyright © 2013, Uma Broadcasting Ltd
RELATED NEWS
