Overview

The Trust has taken a leadership role in promoting the relationship between native forest regeneration and the potential income from carbon sequestration as a way to encourage landowners to change their land management on marginal land from grazing to regeneration.

We’ve carried out research to understand and explain the issues and opportunities and released our report on the topic, pulled together a multi-agency group to advocate for the removal of barriers, and made submissions.

Partnerships

We are working with staff across many government agencies, covenanting agencies and private landowners to improve the opportunities.

Major Achievements to date:

November 2023 – News Bulletin number 4 – Click HERE

August 2023 – News Bulletin – August 2023 – Click HERE

August 2023 – Submission to the ETS Review and Permanent Forest Redesign – Click HERE

June 2023 – Submission on the Climate Commission advise on the 2nd Emissions Period – Click HERE

May 2023 – Submission on the ChristchurchNZ Banks Peninsula Destination Management Plan – Click HERE

May 2023 – Submission on Forestry in the ETS updates to cost recovery settings – Click HERE

May 2023 – Read the groups May 2023 News Bulletin

March 2023 – Read the March 2023 News Bulletin for an overview of the groups latest activities.

May 2022 – Landowner Information handout – Click HERE for information for landowners considering registering regenerating native forest with the Emissions Trading Scheme.

24 November 2021 – Read our submission to the Emissions Reduction consultation – advocating for government policy levers to tip in favour of sequestration in Permanent Native Forest – with all the co-benefits this brings.

4 August 2021 – Trust Manager Suky Thompson presented a pre-conference workshop at the Environmental Defence Society Conference addressing “Forestry and the future of Banks Peninsula – Emissions Trading Scheme and Native Regeneration”. Click HERE to view the presentation.

9 July 2021 – We met with Hon James Shaw, Minister for Climate Change, and Hon Eugenie Sage, to discuss our concern about how difficult it is to register naturally regenerating native forest areas into the Emissions Trading Scheme, and what we think needs to be changed. See our presentation here.

April 2021 – Click HERE to read the Banks Peninsula Native Forest /Climate Change Group submission to Christchurch City Council Climate Change Strategy Draft 2021 and Te Mahere Rautaki Kaurera Our Draft Long Term Plan

April 2021 – Click HERE to read the Banks Peninsula Native Forest /Climate Change Group submission to the Environment Canterbury 2021 Draft Long Term Plan

28 March 2021 – Click HERE to read the The Banks Peninsula Native Forest/Climate Change groups submission to the Climate Change Commission.

10 February 2020 – The Banks Peninsula Native Forest/Climate Change group presented an oral submission to the Environment Subcommittee in Wellington,  sharing their views on the Resource Management Amendment Bill and the Climate Change Response (Emissions Trading Reform) Amendment Bill

15 January 2020  – The Banks Peninsula Native Forest/Climate Change group lodged a submission to the Change Response (Emissions Trading Scheme) Amendment Bill and associated Forestry Regulations.

25 September 2019  – Many thanks to the QEII National Trust for inviting us to their conference to present on “Carbon Income from Regenerating Native Biodiversity: Opportunities and Issues”.

28 August 2019 – We presented our submission to Christchurch City Council on proposed Emissions Targets reductions, advocating for the role of Banks Peninsula as a carbon sink using native regeneration.

23 August 2019 – We hosted a visit from MPI Te Uru Rakau staff Steven Cox, Erin Flood and Sophie Offner on 28 August, 2019 with the Native Forest /Climate Change group to showcase the opportunities Banks Peninsula presents to sequester carbon through native regeneration, to better understand the current blockages to registering native regenerating areas in the ETS, and to understand how we can become involved in the legislative and policy processes to remove these barriers.

16 August 2019 – We’ve pulled together a multi-agency group with staff from Department of Conservation, Christchurch City Council, Environment Canterbury, QEII National Trust, Banks Peninsula Conservation Trust, Hinewai Reserve and Manaaki Whenua/Landcare Research who are meeting to share information, ideas and to combine efforts to advocate for native forest regeneration in relation to Climate change

22 July 2019 – The latest version of our report “Facilitating Biodiversity Enhancement using Income from Carbon Credits” is available on our website. The report releases our research into the background to the ETS and how it relates to New Zealand’s international commitments, the process and difficulties of registering for carbon credits, the 1 Billion Trees scheme, and a comparison of potential incomes from grazing or carbon on marginal land. It is a living document so we update it from time to time.

21 September 2018 – The Trust made a substantial submission to the Emission Trading Scheme – A Better ETS for Forestry – Proposed amendments to the Climate Response Act 2002 consultation advocating for high quality native forest regeneration to provide a major carbon sink for Canterbury.

3 October 2014 – The Trust held a workshop at with Enviro-mark solutions to understand the process for registering native forest in the PFSI