Alt-F Reset: Examining the drivers of forestry in New Zealand
Date: 10th April 2025
The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment has recently released the above report. The introduction to the report is below as is a link to the summary and the main report.
Two main types of forests predominate in New Zealand: native forests that are maintained for their environmental, cultural and conservation values; and exotic commercial forests, which are managed for timber, fibre and (increasingly) carbon storage. The latter is vastly dominated by radiata pine plantations.
A lot of deforestation (removal of forests), reforestation (replanting former forests) and afforestation (establishing new forests) has been largely driven by short-term market and regulatory signals. In more recent years, the role of forests for carbon storage has created a new incentive for afforestation.
New Zealand’s current approach to climate mitigation means that between 2022–2050, more than 900,000 hectares of new forests could be planted across the landscape. While many New Zealanders may hope that much of this will be native forest, current economic and policy drivers, such as the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (NZ ETS), make it more likely that these will be once again forests of radiata
pine (Pinus radiata). This report aims to inform discussions on future afforestation in Aotearoa New Zealand. It asks where we are currently headed and what some of the possible alternatives are. Specifically, it considers:
What is currently driving afforestation in New Zealand and what effect is this having on our environment?
What do we know about establishing native forests at scale?
What are some of the most promising alternative exotic species that could be established at a greater scale in New Zealand? How much do we know about them?
What do we know about long-term management of different types of forests and what management systems are possible other than clear-felling?
What environmental impacts could result from greater uptake of alternative forestry systems (i.e. other than radiata pine under a clear-fell or carbon forest regime)?
What is preventing greater uptake of alternative forestry systems?
To be clear, radiata pine has, and should continue to have, an important role in New Zealand’s economy. Sited appropriately (and managed well) it is a highly valuable resource with many benefits. However, our current heavy reliance on a single species comes with environmental and economic risks that could impact the resilience of our forests. In some places the adverse environmental effects of the current clear-fell regime are simply too great to justify. Using forests to offset fossil emissions carries even greater risks. This report also investigates what wider changes are needed to address issues with our current approach to forestry.
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