Helping the owners of Māori land get paid to
plant trees to clean the air for generations to come.
The Waro project is a three-year research project to figure out how more Māori land could be used for native forest regeneration and carbon farming.
What do I want to do with my land?
If you own or have rights to land you may be able to earn money in a way that will help fight climate change while increasing the sustainability of the whenua. With the mānuka honey industry taking off and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change causing carbon prices to increase, earning an income from planting native trees or letting existing pasture regenerate into native bush is getting easier and more lucrative.
Cleaning the air with your trees
Māori land owners interested in sustainable development can look at planting forest or allowing native bush to regenerate on their existing land. For example, the land could currently be used for sheep or beef farming or be covered in scrub. If your land is eligible, you could be paid for cleaning the air with your trees. This ‘carbon farming’ can complement other economic, environmental and cultural benefits flowing from letting indigenous plants grow on the whenua again.
“When I think about the deals we have done, they have largely been because we care about the relationship [with landowners], but it is more complex…. I think you do need to have people… that want a relationship.”
large scale emitter
What is carbon farming?
If you own or have rights to land currently used for sheep or beef farming or covered in scrub, you could be paid for cleaning the air with your trees. This ‘carbon farming’ will help fight climate change while increasing the sustainability of the whenua, more…
The Nuhiti Q Story
Nuhiti Q is a Māori land block between Tokomaru Bay and Anaura Bay. Nikki Searancke is the chairperson who convinced her board to plant trees on significant parts of the station for environmental and financial benefits from carbon credits in deals she negotiated with Gull New Zealand based on advice from a forestry consultant, more...
Is my land eligible?
There are several elements that need to work together in order to benefit from carbon farming: land eligibility, type of forest, and land ownership, more…