Our places: Rod Donald Trust
Image: Rod Donald Trust
Rod Donald Banks Peninsular TrustPurpose of the Trust
Biodiversity goals
2. Active support for Banks Peninsula Conservation Trust’s Ecological Vision goals to protect all old-growth forest remnants of more than 1ha, examples of all rare ecosystems, and 4 indigenous forest areas of more than 1,000 ha each.
3. Support Pest Free Banks Peninsula group in its work toward Banks Peninsula being effectively free of pest animals.
4. Address the Climate and Ecological Emergency through encouraging native biodiversity to regenerate on a landscape scale, where possible assisted by its income from carbon sequestration.
Key Actions
1. Advocacy for changes to the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS)
“Today’s pricing on a per-tonne basis encourages companies to buy the lowest-quality carbon offsets. It does not monetize the duration of carbon storage, the risk of premature release, or the social equity or environmental benefits of removal.” – Joppa et al, 2021
- Favours low quality short-term carbon offsets that bring increasingly dangerous risks from radiata pine plantations
- Fails to recognise the full carbon storage capabilities of native forests including their carbon-rich soils
- Financially disincentivises the most cost-effective and fastest ways to regenerate native forests (see Hinewai Reserve for example)
- Disregards the essential role of biodiversity in climate change adaptation
- Ignores the value of critical, life-supporting ecosystem services including mahinga kai, clean water, nutrient recycling, drawing down and permanently storing carbon, and climate regulation that only native ecosystems can supply
“Natural regeneration is occurring on Banks Peninsula on a
massive scale, but because it is not financially incentivised we
increasingly see large areas destroyed by aerial spraying as landowners
perceive native vegetation or its nurse canopy as an invasive weed
affecting income rather than carbon sequestration with potential to earn
income.
We submit that this is utterly counterproductive to
the goals of the Climate Change Response Act. At best carbon sequestered
in these naturally regenerating areas is not being included on the
national register. At worst it is being replaced with methane emitting
pastoral farming. Although we are Banks Peninsula focussed, we are aware
of the same issues around the country.”
2. Crowd-funded purchase of Te Ahu Pātiki Maunga
“This really shows how much this resonates with Kiwis: cloaking the hills in forest once again.” – SukyThompson (Video 2)
The 500-hectare block of land known as Te Ahu Pātiki includes the two highest peaks on the Banks Peninsula. Formed when the Mt Herbert volcano erupted 8-9 million years ago, these peaks were once covered in lush native forest. The budget for purchasing the land and setting up the park was $1.5 million. The Trust had been crowdfunding for the last $600,000 when Stuff and The Press teamed up with them by launching a Givealittle page and contributing $20,000. By mid 2021, over 3,000 people had contributed to the purchase of Te Ahu Pātiki.
While Trust now owns the land, the Givealittle page is still active because the more donations received, the faster work can begin to transform the farmland into native bush.
Future plans for governance and management with the Orton Bradley Park Trust (the park borders Te Ahu Pātiki) and mana whenua Te Hapū o Ngāti Wheke are now underway.
How these actions helps mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change
- Native ecosystems store more carbon dioxide (drawdown) than pasture grass or plantation forests.
- Restoring biodiversity also restores the co-benefits of life-supporting ecosystem services
- This reduces erosion and with it, sedimentation. This is particularly important as weather is predicted to intensify and sea levels are rising. Less erosion means less sediment washed into the ocean. Too much sediment smothers and kill coastal and marine ecosystems in the harbours and bays of the peninsula, including salt marshes and seaweed (both of which absorb large quantities of carbon dioxide).
- Increases habitats for endemic taonga species including insects, reptiles, and birds that pollinate plants, and, along with microbes and fungi that help recycle nutrients, helps the soil absorb and permanently store carbon.
- Healthy ecosystems are sources of mahinga kai, helping us become more food resilient as the climate changes.
- Increasing access through connected walking trails and bike tracks, and promoting knowledge raises public awareness of and appreciation for healthy biodiversity and its part in adapting to and mitigating the effects of climate change.
- Advocating for changes under the ETS has met with some success insofar as the Climate Change Commission has recommended more emphasis be placed on restoring native forests. As Video 3 (below) shows, there is huge complexity in carbon farming, but there are also solutions.
