Forestry policies, institutions and programmes |
Administration
Prior to 1984, the forestry sector was dominated by the New Zealand Forest Service. The Forest Service owned 52 percent of the planted forest estate. The period between 1984 and 1987 saw the dissolution of the Forest Service and the corporatization, and later privatization, of planted forest estates. New Zealand was a pioneer of privatization of forest resources and forest institutions. Staff numbers were reduced, machinery was upgraded, processes were revamped and production focused on areas of competitive advantage.
In 1998, the Government merged its Ministries of Agriculture and Forestry. Work is currently under way to establish a national land cover database using GIS technology.
Constraints
Constraints to New Zealand¿s forestry include the following:
- a vulnerable market for wood products which is dominated by Japan, Korea, and Australia;
- escalating land costs which may dissuade the forestry companies from investing in new forest plantations; and
- insufficient processing capacity to warrant forest expansion, particularly since the wood supply is likely to increase in the forests during the next decade.
Future actions are expected to include:
- diversification of the wood processing industry and markets;
- continued enhancement of the tourism industry;
- continued efforts to develop the processing, marketing and trade of forest products for the smooth management of forest plantations;
- restructuring and strengthening of the forestry sector to move towards efficient allocation of resources through specialization, a strong commercial etho, and competitive operation of the sector.
Many of the higher alpine mountain ranges are contained within national parks and managed by the Department of Conservation while others are contained within regional parks and managed by local governments. A large area of mid-altitude mountain ranges and valleys is owned by the Crown and leased in large blocks to pastoral farmers. As a result of competition between utilizing the productive values and protecting the natural values (e.g. biodiversity and landscape) of these mountains, legislation has been introduced to enable reallocation of such lands to the public conservation estate and to private ownership for farming.
Weed variations and vertebrate pests threaten both natural values and production capacity in the mountains of New Zealand.
New Zealand doesn¿t have distinctive mountain-dwelling communities. However, the mountains, including many small peaks and extinct volcanoes, hold special significance for local people and for Maori ancestral linkages.
Last udpated: August 2002