Deforestation Carbon Stock Tables
Introduction
The Government has agreed in principle that owners of pre-1990 planted forest will be subject (with certain exemptions) to the Climate Change Response (Emissions Trading) Amendment Act. Owners who decide to deforest (i.e. convert to another land use) after 1 January 2008 will be liable for the carbon emitted as a result of deforestation.
The core obligations of those deforesting pre-1990 forest lands will be to
• report annually to the administering agency about any area deforested;
• calculate, using a specified methodology, the emissions associated with this deforestation;
• surrender a number of New Zealand units (NZUs) or other acceptable units equal to the calculated emissions.
The specified methodology for calculating deforestation emissions will use a series of carbon yield tables that will be included in the Regulations to the Climate Change Response (Emissions trading) Amendment Act.
This report presents tables of forest biomass carbon1 and describes the construction methods used in their development. The tables do not purport to represent actual carbon stored in any one specific stand, nor the expected mean values for any geographical region.
1 Throughout the report the term “carbon” is used to mean actual carbon in tonnes per hectare. To convert numeric values of carbon to carbon dioxide equivalent, multiply by 44/12.
Contact for Enquiries
Sustainable Land Management and Climate Change
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