Protecting 738ha of Maori owned tall indigenous rainforest, in western Southland, New Zealand. This wet rainforest is adjacent to Fiordland National Park on the very southern coastline of the South Island, and located at the start of the Hump Ridge Track. The forest has a silver beech canopy, intermixed with miro and totara.
Parts of the forest had been logged in the past, and some of the flat terrace land was cleared for farming. The forest is now protected by a conservation covenant. It is supplying New Zealand's first (and so far only) carbon offsets from tall indigenous rainforest.
This project produces 2,430 tCO2 carbon offsets annually, certified to the ISO14064-2 standard confirming that the carbon benefits are real, measured, reported, verified, additional and with no double counting. Audited by the Norwegian global firm DNV-GL (the same auditors who do carbon auditing for the NZ Government and other governments). Its carbon offsets were issued by Markit Environmental Registry in London (the world's leading environmental registry).
Owned by the Rowallan Alton (Maori) Incorporation who have given up the right to harvest timber from their forest in exchange for the opportunity to receive donations from supplying rainforest carbon offsets to businesses and individuals. The offsets are priced to contribute to conservation management and community development at this site.
The community landowners logged these forests in the past to help fund community development. In 2007 Ekos invited them to change forest land use from production to protection and to finance conservation and community development through supplying carbon offsets. With funding from the Ministry for Maori Development together they developed this project - the first rainforest carbon project in New Zealand. Note: The New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (NZETS) supports native forest regrowth projects for forests younger than 1990. Tall rainforests were established many thousands of years ago and are not eligible to participate in the NZETS. For this reason Ekos developed this project under the international voluntary carbon market where such projects are eligible.
The Rarakau landowners aspire to sustainable land management excellence, running high quality cattle grazing land along side high quality protected rainforest. Purchasing carbon offsets from this project will supporting this aspiration.
Follow The Money
We believe that trust is built on transparency. This is why we open our books to buyers and sellers alike. We price the carbon offsets based on the costs of conservation management and community development at this site. The main costs are:
Pricing Summary For This Project
This project was developed between 2008 and 2013 by Carbon Partnership Ltd and Ekos, with funding from Te Puni Kokiri (Ministry for Maori Development) and Carbon Partnership. Key project partners include Rowallan Alton Incorporation (RAI), Venture Partners, Aerial Surveys, Victoria University of Wellington, Akina Foundation, and Markit Registry.