Since becoming a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol in late 2002, and then releasing its policy on climate change, the New Zealand Government has continued with its plans to appropriate carbon credits belonging to owners of ‘Kyoto forests’. Kyoto forests are those planted after 1990 and which can be treated as carbon sinks for the purpose of offsetting carbon emissions.
Under the Kyoto Protocol New Zealand must reduce its carbon emissions to 1990 levels during the period 2008 – 2012. Under Government plans carbon credits from forests planted after 1990 will be used to offset emissions from other industries and sectors of the New Zealand economy whose emissions have increased since 1990