Sustainable Land Management and Climate Change Plan of Action

Structuring the Partnership: How the Plan of Action will Work

Peak Group

A ‘Peak Group’ will provide the highest level of partnership to support the Plan of Action.

The Peak Group will be a small but important group comprising representatives from the forestry and agriculture sectors, Māori and local government. The members of this group will help to provide a sounding board and strategic direction on the development and implementation of the Plan of Action.

In recognition of the partnership between the Crown and Māori, and the particular issues of land ownership that pertain to Māori, there will be Māori involvement in the Plan of Action through both the Peak Group and the various working groups.

It is envisaged that the Peak Group will exist for at least 10 years. It will be chaired by the Director-General of MAF, and report to the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry and the Minister Responsible for Climate Change Issues on a twice-yearly basis.

Working groups

The Peak Group will be assisted in its work by a number of working groups for the various pillars and supporting work programmes of the Plan of Action. These groups will provide practical and technical advice, and coordinate joint implementation of work. It is envisaged that there will be four working groups, covering:

  • adaptation;
  • research, innovation and technology transfer;
  • ETS design;
  • business opportunities.

Membership of the working groups

Technical experts from the forestry and agriculture sectors, Māori, local government and the research and science community will be identified to participate in the working groups as appropriate. Members will be chosen for their expertise rather than their representation of a particular sector or group of constituents. They may also be specialists seconded or contracted to do specific work for the group. The makeup and terms of reference of the groups will be approved by the Peak Group.

The technical working groups will include appropriate experts, specialists and government agency representatives. They will, however, have a more sectoral representation element to ensure input from the sectors under the ‘partnership approach’.

The Government will fund the organisation and administration of these working groups through a secretariat.

Engagement on the Plan of Action

The Government wants to establish a durable and constructive way of working with the sectors, local government and Māori. Good relationships will help all concerned to identify key issues, create better solutions, make the most of opportunities and ensure informed decision-making. The consultation undertaken in 2007 to develop the Plan of Action is part of a long process of engagement.

This process has already been underway for a number of years. It has involved broad formal consultation (in 2002 and 2007), as well as sector-specific consultation and one-on-one engagements.

Building on this, engagement meetings and hui are scheduled to start from late September 2007.

For details, visit www.maf.govt.nz/climatechange or call 0800 CLIMATE 254 628.

Figure 2: Summary of Government investment initiatives

Vote Agriculture and Forestry All figures are in $m
Initiative 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12
Pillar 1: Adaptation
Partnership and policy development 0.335 0.660 0.790 0.910 0.910
Community Irrigation Fund 0.112 0.360 0.600 0.980 1.360
Pillar 2: Reducing emmisions and creating carbon sinks
Emissions trading policy development 1.200 1.827 1.415 1.415 1.415
Farm-level greenhouse gas reporting 0.860 1.510 1.210 1.210 1.215
Afforestation Grant Scheme 1.068 6.341 11.497 11.497 11.547
GIS Infrastructure4 2.468 1.535 1.453 1.496 1.432
Pillar 3: Business opportunities
Partnership and policy development 2.844 3.615 3.215 2.335 2.055
Bionergy and biochar research and development 3.775 3.750 2.300 0.500 -
Supporting work programmes
Research and innovation
Research 4.300 6.475 8.475 10.475 10.605
Inventory development5 2.720 2.850 2.850 3.150 3.150
Technology transfer
Partnership development and implementation 2.744 5.060 5.020 4.670 4.469
Communications and engagement 0.897 0.698 0.653 0.653 0.653
TOTAL INVESTMENT 21.960 33.881 39.478 39.291 38.811
TOTAL OVER 5 YEARS $175.584 million

4 A new Geographic Information System to track the status of land under new and existing climate change forestry initiatives

5 Improving the New Zealand greenhouse inventory for reporting under the United Nations Framework on Climate Change. A key focus will be having new technologies for emission reduction recognised by the international community

Contact for Enquiries

Sustainable Land Management and Climate Change
MAF
Pastoral House
25 The Terrace
PO Box 2526, Wellington
Tel: 0800 CLIMATE (254 628)
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