Forests Amendment Bill 1999
EXPLANATORY NOTE
General Policy Statement
| Part IIIA of the Forests Act 1949 promotes the sustainable management of New Zealand's remaining indigenous forests by prohibiting the export of indigenous timber from unsustainably-managed forests. Indigenous timber may be exported when the timber has been harvested pursuant to a registered sustainable forest management plan or registered sustainable forest management permit. | |
| Four categories of indigenous forests are currently exempted from the Part IIIA provisions: | |
| (a) | West Coast indigenous production forests covered by the West Coast Accord; and |
| (b) | Indigenous forests on lands originally reserved or granted under the South Island Landless Maori Act 1906 (SILMA); or section 12 of the Maori Land Amendment Act 1914; or section 88 of the Reserves and other Lands Disposal and Public Bodies Empowering Act 1916; or section 110 of the Maori Purposes Act 1931; and having the status of Maori land or General land owned by Maori within the meaning of Te Ture Whenua Maori Act 1993; and |
| (c) | Indigenous forests on lands held, managed, or administered by the Crown under the Conservation Act 1987 or any Act listed in the First Schedule of that Act; and |
| (d) | Planted indigenous forests. |
| This Bill amends the export control provisions of the Forests Act 1949, and extends these amended provisions to cover indigenous forests previously exempt from Part IIIA, with the sole exception of timber harvested from planted indigenous forests. | |
| The milling provisions in Part IIIA of the Act are also extended by removing the current exemptions for the Crown's West Coast indigenous production forests subject to the completion of sustainable management plans for individual forests. As a consequence, sawmills will only be able to mill timber from the Crown's indigenous production forests where the timber has been harvested in accordance with Part IIIA. The end-date for the transition to sustainable management is 31 December 2000. | |
| Provision is made for individual SILMA forests to be voluntarily included within the Act's sustainable management provisions subject to the agreement of the landowners. Any inclusion through this provision is to be implemented by Order in Council. |
| The Bill also provides for transitional arrangements for harvesting from the Crown's indigenous production forests in the Buller subregion. Harvesting from these forests is permitted to continue until 31 December 2000, subject to the total volume of logs from the Buller subregion milled from 1 January 1999 to 31 December 2000 not exceeding two-thirds of the total milled from 1 January 1996 to 31 December 1998. The export of indigenous timber sourced from these forests, excluding finished products, is prevented during this transition. |
| The Bill rules out claims for compensation as a consequence of its enactment. Provision is made for regulations to specify the criteria for, and method of assessment of, claims against the Crown for financial losses suffered under written contracts that predate this Bill's introduction, where those losses relate to export controls in this Bill. |
| The Bill also contains technical amendments seeking to remove ambiguities, clarify certain meanings, and to remove impediments to achieving the purpose of Part IIIA of the Act as originally intended. |
Contact for Enquiries
Policy Analyst - Forestry
Innovation and Research
MAF Policy
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
PO Box 2526
Wellington
NEW ZEALAND
Tel: +64 4 894 0100
Fax: +64 4 894 0741
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