Sinks Submissions - Opposition to a Carbon Trading Scheme

"We remain strenuously opposed to the forest carbon credit regime proposed within the Kyoto Protocol and reconfirmed at Bonn. We consider the "forest sinks" proposal outlined in your information document to be inconsistent with many of the Principles agreed to by Cabinet in respect of sink activities. Specifically we suggest:

The proposal lacks environmental integrity and provides little positive incentive to protect and enhance existing sinks.
It removes market incentive for efficient use of capital flows within the energy sector to reduce fossil fuel emissions.
It has significant capacity to economically distort international competitiveness and investment in forest products.
It precludes existing forest owners from participation on a fair and equal basis in sink accreditation schemes.
It removes certainty and confidence from business, particularly the implication that privately acquired assets can be expropriated by the State, without compensation.
Forest sink credits are allocated on an arbitrary and selective basis and create an unfair trade advantage to post 1990 forests.
Expropriation without compensation of rights within forests would appear to be inconsistent with the Treaty of Waitangi and may as a consequence pose a risk of significant legal liability to the Crown.
The public interest is favoured rather than balanced with the private interests of the forest owners.
Forest sinks under the Kyoto Protocol lack environmental, economic, or social justification to the extent that they will delay more sustainable solutions to climate change, disrupt New Zealand's domestic and export potential, and selectively adversely impact on rural and Maori communities."

MAF Information Services
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