New Zealand accused of cheating on forestry

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New Zealand is cheating on greenhouse gas cuts by supporting "dubious" accounting rules for forestry, say conservation groups at the world climate summit in Denmark.

Chris Henschel, of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, said forestry accounting proposals from New Zealand and other developed countries allowed them to "cheat" on emission targets.

A New Zealand official said the forestry accounting recognised the cyclical nature of the industry.

Forests soak up carbon, benefiting New Zealand's climate change accounting, but cutting trees planted before 1990 has the opposite effect.

New Zealand and other countries want to adopt rules that smooth out the forestry accounting, but conservation groups in Copenhagen say that could undermine any climate agreement.

Henschel named New Zealand in a roll call of "worst offenders" who would benefit most from "dubious" forestry loopholes.

Countries such as Australia, Austria, Canada, Estonia, Sweden, Finland, Britain, Germany and Japan were also proposing to "hide" the largest amount of emissions, he said.

"New Zealand wants to increase its current forest harvest rate and emissions from cutting trees by nearly 200 per cent and not account for it," he said.

Henschel said the accounting rules effectively weakened the pledged reductions in emissions.

"They're trying to build loopholes into the accounting systems and into the Kyoto Protocol such that their actual emission reduction is not what they say it is," he said.

Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry adviser Bryan Smith said the use of exotic plantation trees as carbon "sinks" was a significant issue for New Zealand.

"A lot of trees were planted in a short period of time. They're coming up for maturity and they're going to be harvested by the forest industry," he said. "The vast majority will be replanted, they'll regrow and they'll soak up the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere again.

"It's key for us to find a way that has environmental integrity but recognises our unique circumstances."

Meanwhile, New Zealand officials have warned of a backlash after the tiny Pacific nation of Tuvalu hijacked the climate conference for the second day running.

Talks on the Kyoto Protocol broke down on Thursday when Tuvalu, which speaks for the Alliance of Small Island States, refused to be brushed aside over its passionate plea for an ambitious and legally binding agreement.

Climate change ambassador Adrian Macey, New Zealand's top official at the talks, said blocking the talks had cost valuable negotiating time "and probably some loss of goodwill".

- © Fairfax NZ News