Sustainable Land Management and Climate Change Plan of Action
The Three Pillars
The Plan of Action’s three pillars provide a platform from which all parties can work together to tackle climate change. The pillars will encompass a series of tasks to be undertaken over the next five years. The pillars are:
Pillar 1 – Adaptation
Pillar 2 – Reducing emissions and enhancing sinks
Pillar 3 – Business opportunities.
Overseeing the work programmes under the three pillars will be:
- a Peak Group comprising Māori, sector and local government leaders to provide a sounding board and direction for the development of the Plan of Action;
- working groups of technical experts and practitioners established under each pillar to provide practical advice and coordinate joint implementation of the work programmes developed.
More information on the structure of the Plan of Action partnership, and the Peak Group and working groups, is on page 16.
Pillar 1: Adapting to climate change
Climate change is likely to have a mixed impact on New Zealand land management.
Over the next 100 years, New Zealand is expected to experience warmer temperatures and changes in the amount and distribution of rainfall. This will result in improved growing conditions and longer seasons in some regions. It is also likely to lead to an increase in the frequency and severity of both extreme storm events (in some areas) and drought in others (especially in the east). Increased biosecurity risks from pests and diseases will also need to be managed. Agricultural productivity is expected to be affected, for better and worse, by these projected changes.
The Government will work with the agriculture and forestry sectors, local government and Māori to identify activities to be included in a proposed new five-year Adaptation Programme for the sectors. This programme will help the sectors build up the necessary skills and infrastructure needed to respond to the risks posed by the changing climate, as well as take advantage of the new opportunities.
The Government has agreed to fund this work to a total of more than $7 million over the five years 2008–12 and a further $910,000 per year thereafter. More details about this funding are available in the Adapting to a Changing Climate investment summary sheet that accompanies this booklet. This will be supported by further investment in research and innovation and technology transfer.
Over the nine months to June 2008, an Adaptation Working Group comprising representatives from the sectors, local government, and Māori will be invited to identify the key activities that should be included in the five-year programme. The group will be serviced by a secretariat supported by MAF.
Initiatives that the Adaptation Programme may focus on include:
- developing detailed regional information across New Zealand on climate change impacts on current agriculture and forestry management regimes;
- identifying the most vulnerable areas in New Zealand;
- identifying sector activities that are complementary to adaptation action;
- developing a set of baseline indicators to monitor adaptation actions;
- incorporating forestry into vulnerable landscapes;
- putting in place a Community Irrigation Fund to help rural communities adapt to increasing drought risk.
The Adaptation Programme will be linked to work already being carried out by the sectors, to local authority regional, district and community plans, and to broader central government sustainability initiatives such as MAF’s Flood Risk Management Review and Adverse Events Policy, and the National Civil Defence and Emergency Management Strategy.
Pillar 2: Reducing emissions and creating carbon sinks
Emissions trading is a core component of the Government’s policies for tackling climate change and creating a sustainable economy.
It is key to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and encouraging New Zealanders at all levels of society and business to take responsibility (or pay) for actions that impact on our environmental and economic performance.
Consultation on emissions trading
An emissions trading scheme was included in the Government’s wider consultation on energy and climate change initiatives in early 2007, and emerged as the preferred option of business and public audiences.
Those making submissions on options to reduce agricultural emissions also indicated that:
- market-based approaches were preferable to government regulation;
- maintaining land use flexibility was an economic necessity;
- equity between sectors and with overseas competitors was highly desirable;
- long-term solutions were preferable to quick policy fixes;
- systems that entailed complexity, bureaucracy, cost and lack of design detail were problematic;
- more incentives and fewer penalties were a good idea.
Those responding on deforestation options argued for:
- a preference for tradable permit systems over charges on land use change;
- a fully free-market trading regime would put the incentives and economic drivers in the right place;
- that unlike the other options, the tradable permit regime did not impose restrictions on the rights of the property owner;
- it could be structured to allow some flexibility to the land manager in how to meet the imposed liability;
- it is significantly more flexible than the other deforestation options;
- it appears to present more advantages than disadvantages.
Following consultation, the Government decided that an emissions trading scheme (ETS) offered New Zealanders the most flexible, effective, fairest and least-cost option for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Other measures under Pillar 2
The ETS is not a standalone response to reducing New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions. The Government has developed a broader package to enable people and organisations in the land management sectors to prepare for the reality of entry into the ETS, and generally to adopt more climate-aware behaviours. The package includes:
- significantly enhanced research and innovation for agricultural and forestry greenhouse gas mitigation;
- development of a programme to monitor and share information on farm greenhouse gas emissions and mitigation technologies;
- development of a greenhouse gas ‘footprint’ methodology to help land managers identify and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and promote New Zealand ‘climate friendly’ products on overseas markets;
- research and innovation to enhance the development of, and access to, new types of carbon sink (for example, through the development of the carbon-sequestering agent ‘biochar’);
- encouragement for the creation of more forest carbon sinks using initiatives available under the ETS and outside it (the new Afforestation Grant Scheme for smaller forest owners is an example of the latter);
- establishment of an enhanced Technology Transfer Programme to ensure that knowledge and information on emissions reduction is available to land managers;
- encouragement for the replacement of non-renewable energy fuels with other forms of renewable bioenergy such as wood chips and wood residues;
- promotion of sustainable wood-based building materials.
These and related initiatives under the Plan of Action are described in the summary sheets accompanying this booklet.
Forestry
A document titled Forestry in a New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme is available as part of the Government’s information on the ETS.2 This also contains information on the new Afforestation Grant Scheme, highlighted in the Sustainable Land Management and Climate Change consultation earlier this year, and on two existing forestry measures that complement the ETS – the Permanent Forest Sink Initiative and the East Coast Forestry Project.
Three initiatives included in the Plan of Action are designed to increase the size of New Zealand's forests, both planted and indigenous:
The Afforestation Grant Scheme, a new initiative that allows landowners who do not wish (for cost or other reasons) to participate in the ETS to benefit from the climate change mitigation benefits of planting new forests. This initiative also allows for the delivery of additional environmental benefits such as erosion reduction, water quality improvements and increased biodiversity. More information is contained in the Government Investment Initiatives summary sheet Afforestation Grant Scheme and the Forestry in the New Zealand ETS engagement document.
The Permanent Forest Sink Initiative (PFSI) is an existing scheme that targets owners of land that will be kept under continuous forest cover, rather than clear felled at the end of each rotation. Under the PFSI, landowners can receive Kyoto Protocol-compliant carbon credits for carbon dioxide absorbed from the atmosphere by eligible forests.
The East Coast Forestry Project (ECFP) is an existing project that encourages tree planting on erosion-prone land in the East Coast region of the North Island through the provision of a cash grant for soil conservation purposes.
Agriculture
The Government has decided in principle to bring all agricultural emissions into the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) on 1 January 2013, and not to introduce any other price-based measures in the interim. This decision reflects undertakings given by the Government as part of its 2003 Memorandum of Understanding3 with key agriculture representatives and acknowledges the operational challenges of bringing agriculture into the ETS.
Including agriculture in the ETS from 2012 means that farmers will need to start taking the cost of carbon emissions into account in their business and production decisions.
The sector will still be exposed to some of the cost of greenhouse gas emissions before 2013 through increased supply chain costs caused by the entry of the transport and energy sectors into the scheme.
The five-year period before agriculture enters into the ETS also provides farmers and growers with an important window of opportunity to:
- contribute to the Government’s work in developing appropriate design details for the agricultural elements of the ETS to ensure it works effectively and fairly;
- prepare for the reality of participation in the ETS post-2012, by having the knowledge and practices to handle:
- mandatory monitoring and reporting of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions as early as 2011;
- voluntary activities, which will be encouraged and available to the sectors, including:
- pilot trials of farm-level monitoring and reporting;
- increased contribution from the sectors to research into agricultural greenhouse gas mitigation and adaptation;
- increased sector contribution to technology transfer, in particular commitments to roll out mitigation technology, and energy efficiency on farms.
These preparatory activities will be negotiated with the sectors through partnership agreements to be developed under the Plan of Action.
A special secretariat, supported by a Technical Advisory Group drawn from technical and scientific experts in agricultural science and research, will be set up by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) to work out the practicalities of how agriculture could be included in the ETS.
This Technical Advisory Group will have different structure and governance arrangements to the working groups being developed under the Plan of Action partnerships under Pillars 1 and 3 (Adaptation and Business Opportunities), and the supporting work programme on Research and Technology Transfer discussed on pages 13 and 14 of this document.
As information from this working group emerges, it will be made available to stakeholders through workshops and seminars. Stakeholders and Māori will then have the opportunity to comment on the design and implementation of these elements.
Pillar 3: Capitalising on business opportunities arising from climate change
Moving from a high-emission to a low-emission economy is as much about positioning New Zealand for longer-term economic growth as it is about meeting our international climate change obligations. New Zealand’s agricultural and forestry industries will need to adapt to changing markets and capitalise on the resulting business opportunities if they are to secure their long-term viability.
Under the Plan of Action, the Government proposes to develop a five-year Government-primary sector partnership programme on maximising business opportunities. This programme will identify how New Zealand’s land-based primary sector firms and industries can position themselves for longer-term economic growth and competitive advantage. A working group will be set up, with representatives from the primary sector and Māori, to identify the activities to be included under the programme over the six months to March 2008. Some of the activities that are likely to start immediately include:
- strategic analysis to inform the primary sectors and the Government on the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats from climate change from a business opportunities perspective;
- the development of an extensive carbon footprint response for the primary sectors;
- research projects, and information dissemination and capacity-building programmes on carbon grey markets, the creation of markets for emission-reducing technologies, a clean development mechanism and joint implementation opportunities, and opportunities in emerging markets;
- the development of a Sustainable Building Strategy to promote greater use of wood;
- research, development and commercialisation of biochar/biofuel, and opportunities for energy efficiency;
- research on and implementation of an international strategy for avoiding deforestation, and related issues.
2 The Forestry engagement document is available on the government websites www.climatechange.govt.nz and www.maf.govt.nz/climatechange. Printed copies can be ordered from climatechange@maf.govt.nz or by calling 0800 CLIMATE (254 628).
3 The Memorandum of Understanding reads: “The Crown will not implement a legislated levy on the agricultural sector for the purposes of provision of research into agriculture non-carbon dioxide abatement as long as this Memorandum of Understanding is in effect.”
Contact for Enquiries
Sustainable Land Management and Climate Change
MAF
Pastoral House
25 The Terrace
PO Box 2526, Wellington
Tel: 0800 CLIMATE (254 628)
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