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Download AudioA leading economist says Māori forest owners are almost certain to lose out under any of the four options for carbon reduction the Government has put on the table.
University of Auckland Business School emeritus professor Basil Sharp says Maori might be better advised to put up their own proposed changes to the emissions trading scheme, including a fair compensation package, rather than accept what’s on offer.
Because the Government is concerned firms are buying carbon units of offset their emissions rather than reduce them, one of the options is to remove exotic forests from the ETS.
That would cost Maori landowners and foresters billions of dollars in potential earnings.
“And obviously if you take forestry out of the ETS the value of forestry in New Zealand is going to be reduced,” Professor Sharp says.
He believes litigation by Maori over the ETS changes is inevitable.
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