April 06, 2022
Nash bowing to farmer heat – Awatere
The Māori Climate Change Commissioner says Forestry Minister Stuart Nash is blocking Māori landowners from a $70 billion opportunity.
Mr Nash is considering new rules that would exclude exotic plantations from being classed as permanent forests when carbon units are allocated.
Donna Awatere-Huata says it’s part of a pattern where Māori needs and concerns are ignored when setting climate policy.
She says planting native forests at $25,000 a hectare isn’t an option for most Māori landowners, and the minister has been swayed by the farming sector which is responsible for half of New Zealand’s carbon emissions – and is only offering a 1 per cent reduction.
“And they are putting political pressure on the Labour Government. A small lobby is going to hold Māoridom to ransom,” Ms Awatere-Huata says.
She says Aotearoa needs to act on the warnings from the Intergovernmental Commission on Climate Change, but instead, the Government and the Independent Climate Change Commission are blocking effective action.