April 17, 2023
Carbon forestry help for Māori farms
A spokesperson for Māori carbon farming consultancy Tāmata Hauhā says a stigma around pine trees is hampering its growth – but it can be a win-win for both sides.
Lequan Meihana says Tāmata Hauhā will pay upfront costs for Māori landowners and manage the forests on the behalf of owners, collecting revenue by selling carbon credits to companies which need to offset their emissions.
Pine forests can start generating revenue under the emissions trading scheme in just four years, with annual revenue peaking at around $3500 a hectare at current rates – something the much slower-growing native trees can’t match.
“You know a lot of our whanau would like to plant natives, ah which is amazing and it’s where we want to get to, ah but of course we use exotic trees to complement where we really want to get to – and we use the ETS as purely as an enabler, purely as a waka to get our whanau to where we want to get to,” Mr Meihana says.
Revenue is shared for the first 20 years, then goes 100 percent to the landowner for the next 30.