Why Rangitīkei forestry developer Tāmata Hauhā is turning to AI

Tamata Hauha CEO Blair Jamieson. Photo / Bevan Conley

Rangitīkei forestry developers Tāmata Hauhā and carbon technology company CarbonCrop have teamed up to use artificial intelligence (AI).

The AI will help with carbon analysis, monitoring, and management to make it easier for landowners with all types of forests to get paid and restore forests.

Marton-based Tāmata Hauhā works predominantly with Māori landholders to provide funding and expertise to establish forests and generate long-term revenue through the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).

Chief executive Blair Jamieson said they were excited about the partnership.

“CarbonCrop is particularly powerful when it comes to native and biodiverse carbon forestry, which makes them an ideal partner supporting our kaupapa.”

More than 80 per cent of the existing forest area registered by CarbonCrop is native forest.

In 2023, it has distributed more than $25m to landholders through ETS incentives.

CarbonCrop co-founder Nick Butcher said they were inspired by Tāmata Hauhā's balance of pragmatism and vision.

“Their work has an immediate impact and closes the funding and expertise gap on the large-scale restoration of native and biodiverse forests.

“We’re very philosophically aligned, which makes it a rewarding partnership.”

The companies share an understanding of the financial barrier in carbon forestry and work to allow landowners to overcome the barriers which traditionally may have stopped them.

Tāmata Hauhā's approach to carbon farming is a profit-share arrangement where landholders provide the land and Tāmata Hauhā finances and delivers the planting of trees and all ongoing forest management activities.

“Native forests currently make up only around 17 per cent of the forest in the ETS. Working together with Tāmata Hauhā we can change this,” Butcher said.

The partnership will also help address the challenges around access to land as Māori land is often in more remote areas, making access and health and safety more difficult

“If we can make the waka go faster to access the ‘actually-doing-stuff funding’ for Māori, that’s a good thing,” Jamieson said.

Tāmata Hauhā is also about to launch large-scale renewable energy solar farms.