Are NZ Forests Failing?

Are New Zealand Forests failing?
by Martin Albrecht of goodground.com

For the first time in more than a century, the area taken out of forestry use was greater than the area of new plantings. This disturbing fact, which emerged in 2005, has been due to the present Governments misguided climate change and forestry policies and the relative profitability of competing land uses.
The whole issue of forestry needs urgent attention. We used to be the only country in the world that was growing more trees than were being cut down. What was once “point of difference” is rapidly disappearing.
Fortunately, there are a number of things that can be done to reverse this trend. The most important is to allow forest owners to use the product they own for financial benefit. In other words the forest owner must be able to sell the products inherent in the commodity they own.
The present situation is a bit like having a sheep to sell but only being allowed to sell the wool and not the meat.
Government must act urgently to address this and a number of other issues if the failing forest industry is to be revitalised.
For an excellent in-depth article prepared by the New Zealand Forest Owners Association go to www.goodground.com and click on the homepage article entitled “New Zealand can meet its Kyoto obligations by unlocking the potential of forestry”.
This article presents a number of sensible solutions to fix our failing forest industry.

For further information on carbon credits and forestry/farming related topics, email martin@goodground.com.