Two gatherings, one month apart, in the same venue. The first: Victoria University’s Climate Change Conference, with the British Prime Minister (Tony Blair) in a guest video-appearance. The second: the 2006 NZIF Annual Conference dedicated entirely to environmental topics.
The Institute Conference discussed issues of great national importance: soil and water protection, wildlife and biodiversity, biofuels, climate change, and so on. Taken together, these problems seem overwhelming, except that they have (at least in part) the same solution – more trees. But how to generate sufficient public support? One key to forestry’s renaissance could be the internationally acknowledged benefits of trees in mitigating global warming. A carbon-driven planting boom would stimulate the Sector to such an extent that many other environmental goals would be met.