new National Environmental Standards for Plantation Forestry
by Zelka Linda Grammer
The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) released the new Environmental Standards (NES) for Plantation Forestry in August 2017, after putting out the draft NES-PF two years ago.
The new NES-PF (1) gives foresters, councils, and communities clear national guidelines on how to protect the environment while achieving a sustainable forestry industry ((although many submitters would have preferred stronger provisions to protect indigenous trees, wildlife habitats, and ecosystems).
Severe pressure on MPI resulted in the agency removing a controversial clause 6.4 (GE trees), which was added at the eleventh hour with no consultation with the NZ Farm Forestry Association, Forest and Bird, and other key stakeholders) from the new NES-PF.
Various councils with strong precautionary GE policies, foresters, and other primary producers welcomed the removal of the clause that would have permitted the planting of GE trees anywhere in NZ and specifically overriden any precautionary or prohibitive GE policies and rules of local councils (including those of Northland, Auckland, and Hawke's Bay).