Handel (-Zertifikaten)

POLITICIANS of all persuasions have had a hard time being nice to farmers in ways that don’t upset larger, more vociferous and vindictive sections of the voting public.

In this campaign, they seem to have discovered the key: carbon!

A PIONEERING attempt to provide landholders with a new income stream through forestry offsets, Landcare CarbonSmart, has fallen foul of the Canberra stalemate over emissions regulation.

Set up by Landcare Australia Limited, in part to help landholders put in smaller biodiverse plantings that could provide a carbon credits income stream, CarbonSmart has been killed off because the forestry offsets market and regulatory environment failed to mature as expected.

An estimated 16% of the total global GHG emissions are directly attributed to the destruction of tropical forests.

THE Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) presents unique opportunities for many rural landowners in New Zealand; carbon forestry will allow landowners to use the scheme to their advantage and gain a new income stream.

Marginal farmland throughout the country can be converted into forestry and as long as any conversions are undertaken in an informed manner, landowners potentially have a lot to gain.

The Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) is complex, confusing and difficult to get agreement on, but as New Zealand prepares for its impact from July 1 Climate Change Minister Nick Smith is confident the right balance has been struck. CHRIS ORMOND of NZPA reports.