Government 'to blame for forestry walkout'

The Government is to blame for forest owners walking out of talks over climate change and deforestation, National Party environment spokesman Nick Smith says.

Forest owners said on Friday that the Government's reluctance to move to more realistic climate change policies would accelerate deforestation and lift the price New Zealand had to pay under the Kyoto Protocol.

Under its terms, New Zealand will earn tradeable carbon credits for planting new forests, but if forests are felled without being replanted it becomes financially liable.

The Treasury is projecting a $522 million deficit over the first five-year Kyoto period, beginning in 2008.

That deficit is significantly worse than predicted in the middle of last year, partly due to rapidly increasing deforestation which has seen NZ's total plantation forest cover fall for the first time in a century.

Forest owners oppose a deforestation "cap", under which the Government will make the owners of pre-1990 forests pay if more than 10 per cent are felled without being replanted.

They also believe they should get some of the credits for forests planted after 1990. That would encourage new forests - limiting NZ's Kyoto liability.

Under current policy the Government will own the credits.

Dr Smith said Labour's policies were contributing to increasing deforestation.

"Labour has used and abused the forestry sector by taking all their carbon credits, but expecting them to carry the can for the debits of deforestation."

He called for a bipartisan approach to climate change policy.

"Labour needs to come clean and have the courage to admit its Kyoto policies are wrong."