The release of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) report into the likely impacts of climate change in New Zealand gave us all the more reason why we need to change our agricultural practices and also to change our forests to something more than pinus radiata. Source: The Marlborough Express, Stuff.co.nz
This is according to Steffan Browning the Green Party candidate in the Kaikoura electorate, which includes the Marlborough region.
Mr Browning said the report stated that the eastern and northern parts of New Zealand are expected to be subject to an increase in the number of days with very high or extreme fire weather.
It also pointed out that New Zealand is already subject to extreme weather from climate change and that worse is to come, including serious risks to agriculture, tourism, native species and coastal places.
The report predicts increased financial costs, the displacement of hundreds of millions of people and reduced crop yields globally.
In New Zealand, increased warming means more intense tropical cyclones, rising snow lines, increased floods and droughts, and more heat extremes.
So why do we need to change our forests to grow more than pinus radiata?
Pinus radiata, the main plantation forestry tree in New Zealand is a pyrophyte or fire tree, ecologically adjusted to be burnt from time to time to encourage genetic diversity by regrowth from a mixture of crossed pine seed.
The layers of dry tinder-like needles built up under pine trees are part of that process, different from the indigenous and deciduous exotic forests where leaves decompose much faster.
Those same indigenous and deciduous exotic species could be planted in future permanent canopy forestry projects, significantly reducing risk of widespread wasteful and deadly forest fires.
A different mix of less volatile trees, with carbon sequestration and other environmental benefits in the Marlborough landscape can also help move us towards a higher value timber products sector.
Developing more pine products is fine, but higher value products can come from more diverse species. Maintaining pinus radiata’s dominance reduces the best value options and continues environmentally damaging management.
Marlborough has experienced several significant rain events with logs and debris coming off steep slopes where there has been little restriction on land disturbance.
The government has a report that shows damage to coastal fisheries from sedimentation that flows from activities including forestry land disturbance.
I am pushing for a national environment standard on plantation forestry, which would put meaningful limits on land disturbance, particularly in the steeper country.
Cabinet has stalled the current draft of the national environment standard because industry doesn’t like the cost-benefit ratios, yet more and more fishery habitats are impacted.
Even with the current strong export log prices, industry is reluctant to move to harvesting methods that reduce sediment runoff to a reasonable standard.
We need the best performing harvesting methods, such as the Wyssen-type skyline crane on all high and very high-classified erosion-prone land, but how many are there so far?
