Responsible Forest-centred Climate Policy

Abstract

The 2021 Glasgow Climate Pact and latest IPCC reports unequivocally recognise that urgent, concerted action is needed to address the
interconnected crises of climate change and biodiversity. These twin emergencies are now viewed as one and forests are at the centre of this emergent but dominant discourse. Aotearoa New Zealand faces the challenge of addressing this call to action and is well resourced to responsibly answer. There are multiple forestry models available to the government to select from, but often the difficulty lies in discerning the differences between models. Here we tackle this issue by assessing the spectrum of forestry models and evaluating the biodiversity and carbon sequestration outcomes of each. We then suggest that models which incorporate native species are best placed to solve the twin crises and, as such, government should prioritise native forests in its climate policy framework.