KEY POINTS:
In an effort to stem deforestation, the Government is considering fining forest owners $12,000 a hectare if they cut down trees and do not replant the land.
Forestry Minister Jim Anderton and Climate Change Policy Minister David Parker will release a draft land use strategy today as the Government tries to get its policy to combat global warming in place.
The Government needs to increase the number of trees planted in order to offset carbon emissions if it is ever to come close to meeting its obligations under the Kyoto Protocol treaty on climate change.
The ministers appear to be on a collision course with Maori, the country's richest man and tens of thousands of ordinary landowners and investors after a series of tense talks and rounds of consultation with forest owners.
It is understood the Government will put forward a range of options with a set of carrots and sticks to reverse the trend of converting land from forestry to other uses, notably dairy farming.
The forestry sector is angry that one stick will be to fine or tax those who convert forest land into pasture or other more profitable land use types.
Government officials have suggested $12,000 a hectare will be enough to make it uneconomical to cut down trees and not replant.
Not all forest land is suitable for conversion to other uses, but the deforestation fine does threaten to slice hundred of millions of dollars off the potential value of forest land owners.
Large forest owners include Graeme Hart, who has poured a large part of New Zealand's largest fortune into the purchase of forestry assets.
Maori groups also have strong interests, with much of the central North Island forest plantations being held in trust to settle treaty claims.
Some Maori have all ready threatened to make the land use policy into a treaty issue, saying any removal or watering down of their property rights would be a breach of article two of the Treaty of Waitangi.
Other forest owners have been disappointed that the Government wants to hang on to the carbon credits that trees bring instead of allowing owners to trade them.
Today's land use paper is expected to canvas numerous other options and also address incentives for the planting of trees on marginal land in long-term or permanent forests.
This is not only intended to combat climate change, but also improve water quality in areas near dirty lakes and rivers.
In recent years New Zealand has turned from a net planter of trees to a position where the amount of forest- covered land is declining.
The Government has recently admitted its plans to help build up forestry areas in the East Cape to combat erosion have had very little impact despite offering incentives to plant trees.
- NZPA
