Reforestation

© Greenpeace/Sharomov 8 April 2008. Taupo, central North Island, New Zealand. Greenpeace volunteer Christina Cheng in the process of planting a tree as part of the Greenpeace reforestation activity on Landcorp land, near Taupo. Over 30 Greenpeace volunteers replanted over 1000 trees on land cleared for dairy farming.

Landcorp, a New Zealand Government owned company, is currently converting Tahorakuri Forest into large-scale intensive dairy farms. Landcorp has embarked on a project to convert more than 25,000 hectares of pine plantations northeast of Taupo.

Agriculture accounts for 49 per cent of New Zealand’s total greenhouse gas emissions. Since 1990 emissions have increased by 15 per cent and the dairy sector is responsible for this entire increase.

These emissions are set to climb, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) estimate that 455,000 hectares of forestry land is at risk of being deforested and converted into pastoral use – the majority for dairying.

Greenpeace is calling on the NZ Government and all political parties to bring the agricultural industry into the Emissions Trading Scheme within the next two years, take regulatory action to halt the dairy expansion, and adopt a 30 per cent by 2020 emissions reduction target.