KEY POINTS:
Concerns the Government's flagship emissions trading scheme could wipe tens of millions off the value of Ngai Tahu's Treaty settlement have prompted an independent review.
Ngai Tahu has lodged a fresh historical claim with the Waitangi Tribunal as it seeks to have its concerns addressed - concerns that are shared by many other forest owners worried they too will lose money under the climate change scheme.
At issue in the dispute is the fact that under the emissions trading scheme, the owners of pre-1990 forests will end up paying out money if they want to convert their land to another use.
Ngai Tahu wants to cut down some of its trees and convert the land to farming, and it argues it always acknowledged this when it was in talks with the Crown several years ago.
The iwi's view is that the Crown must have had more information about the likely future impact the Kyoto Protocol would have on the forestry industry than it let on during negotiations.
Now the land the iwi holds is worth less than it was because it can't be easily converted to another use.
Ngai Tahu chairman Mark Solomon yesterday said the emissions trading scheme would wipe off much of the value of the South Island iwi's 1998 settlement.
"Under the emissions trading scheme we face literally tens of millions of dollars' worth of penalty if we don't immediately replant the forests," Mr Solomon told Radio NZ.
He added that it wiped "tens of millions of dollars" off the settlement's bottom line.
Treaty Negotiations Minister Michael Cullen said he had agreed with Mr Solomon to appoint an independent reviewer to look at whether there is any suggestion the Crown was not negotiating in good faith.
"We believe that that evidence is probably not there," Dr Cullen said.
Climate Change Minister David Parker said the Government had agreed to research old files to see if there was anything the Crown didn't properly disclose at the time.
But he also argued the Government had already acknowledged that restrictions on the ability to convert forest to dairy land affected land value - and had agreed an increased rate of free carbon units to compensate for that loss.
Mr Parker suggested the dispute with Ngai Tahu was more around how much that compensation should be.
Other owners of pre-1990 forests yesterday swung in behind Ngai Tahu as Parliament began another stage of debate on the controversial emissions trading legislation.
Forest Owners Association chief executive David Rhodes said the problem had existed since the emissions scheme was first proposed, and several iwi were in the same position as Ngai Tahu.
"Iwi are fortunate to have the Waitangi Tribunal open to them as a means of getting redress for this unfair treatment," Mr Rhodes said.
"This channel is not available to other forest owners, including Maori who own forests that are not associated with a Treaty claim."
Maori Party MP Te Ururoa Flavell spoke out during the emissions trading scheme debate last night, saying it was appropriate for Ngai Tahu to have concerns.
"The value of land handed to iwi under Treaty of Waitangi settlements could substantially decrease," Mr Flavell said.
Specifically referring to Ngai Tahu, Mr Flavell said the scheme "basically jeopardises their settlement, and in their view this amounts to another confiscation".
