Submission for national direction for plantation and exotic carbon afforestation consultation

Bioenergy Association provided a submission on the discussion document National direction for plantation and exotic carbon afforestation. The consultation  sought to amend the Resource Management (National Environmental Standards for Plantation Forestry) Regulations 2017 (NES-PF) . These regulations are national direction under the Resource Management Act 1991.

In its submission the Association was very critical of the proposals to create carbon forests with different rules than other plantation forests. The association view is that all plantation forests should be sustainably managed under the same rules. Any decisions on when and if to harvest a plantation forest will be made by people not likely to be involved today and so any decision today may be changed in the future by different people.