Setting an emissions cap the New Zealand approach. Peter Lough New Zealand Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry

Transcription

1 Setting an emissions cap the New Zealand approach Peter Lough New Zealand Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry

2 Presentation outline New Zealand context How New Zealand manages deforestation Lessons for establishing a REDD mechanism

3 Land use and climate change NZ is a land-based economy so forestry and agriculture are core to our climate change policy NZ implementing an all sectors, all gases emissions trading scheme agriculture and forestry included LULUCF mechanisms are very important for sustainable development, mitigation and adaptation in NZ

4 NZ is a land-based economy

5 Forests in New Zealand Pre-1990 estate natural forests 6.4 million ha (77% public, 23% private) Exotic planted production 1.2 million ha (5% public, 95% private) Article 3.4 Forest Management not elected Post-1989 estate Exotic planted production 0.6 million ha (100% private) Plus around 1 million ha of grazing land with some natural woody vegetation - typically cleared but management could change with ETS incentives

6 NZ Emissions Trading Scheme Economy-wide ETS covering all sectors and all gases Key obligation - participants report their emissions and surrender units equal to those emissions Sectors entry into ETS will be staggered Units of trade will be a New Zealand Unit (NZU) Kyoto Protocol units can be used to meet ETS obligations NZUs will be convertible to Kyoto Protocol units Each NZU must be backed by a Kyoto unit Legislation now before New Zealand Parliament

7 Looking at each sector in turn

8 Forestry sector in NZ ETS Forestry parts of ETS broadly follow Kyoto Protocol rules Without this : Government would potentially allocate many units not backed by Kyoto units Landowners would not face the costs NZ faces ETS therefore distinguishes between pre and post-1989 forests

9 Post-1989 forest owners in NZ ETS Exotic and natural forests can elect to participate Post-1989 forest owners participants will receive units for tree growth (from 1 Jan 2008) together with liability for future carbon loss Liabilities capped to level of units received All units are convertible to Kyoto units and may be sold internationally Adds significantly to rate of return

10 Pre-1990 exotic forest owners in NZ ETS BAU forestry faces no obligations or direct costs, but equally receives no credits for carbon stored Landowners face significant liabilities for deforestation of exotic production forests Will affect values of land in planted production, dynamic land use, and sustainable development Deforestation of pre-1990 natural forest: not included in the draft legislation since controlled by other legislation and initiatives

11 Importance of land use flexibility Feedback from New Zealand stakeholders included the importance of land use flexibility for pre-1990 planted forests Important issue for Maori (NZ s indigenous people) NZ is proposing future international rules that would allow an area of pre-1990 planted forest to be deforested and offset through new and additional planting elsewhere without incurring emissions liabilities from the temporary carbon stock decrease. Proposal applies to planted production forests only At the very least it would maintains forest estate in terms of area and the carbon content in that estate in the medium term Benefits for: Sustainable Development Adaptation

12 Carbon Stock (Gg CO2e) Carbon content in the NZ plantation forest estate with land use flexibility PRE-1990 PLANTATION CARBON STOCK

13 Lessons for REDD NZ approach demonstrates one potential mechanism a country could choose to implement under a national-level REDD mechanism However, national circumstances vary and NZ approach will not be suitable for many developing countries A national-level REDD mechanism provides flexibility for countries to tailor solutions that suit their national circumstances

14 Lessons for REDD Flexibility of productive land use is important Adaptation Sustainable development Developing countries unlikely to want to constrain their development by locking-in land use on their production lands Is there scope to provide some flexibility for existing planted production forests in a REDD mechanism? Should not facilitate clearance of natural forests biodiversity is important