Wednesday, 29 March 2023 11:55

Chop, chop!

Written by The Hound

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OPINION: This old mutt reckons both government and officials are failing to see the wood for the trees in regard to the huge swathes of good farmland going into forestry - much of this to overseas-owned carbon sinks.

According to Newshub, from information under the Official Information Act, 25 times more land was converted into forestry last year than a decade ago.

It shows a rise in new forestry area from 695ha in 2013 to more than 18,000ha last year.

Beef+Lamb NZ says it is alarmed by this figure and while it is not against off-setting via commercial forestry, it argues that there needs to be some limits put on it.

Your old mate hopes the Government's 'ministerial inquiry' into forestry slash will lead to limits on land conversion, as it needs to answer for its policies incentivising forestry to earn carbon credits.

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