Provided that certain land eligibility criteria are met, persons owning land within each of the participating regions, with the right to use land for forestry can obtain an AGS grant through their Regional Council.
Individuals, business entities and local government may apply for the AGS grant provided they own the land, or have the right to use the land for forestry
Land eligible for a grant must be land that:
- Was not forest land on 31 December 1989; or
- Was forest land on 31 December 1989 but;
- Was deforested between 1 January 1990 and 31 December 2007; or
- Was deforested on or after 1 January 2008; and in respect of which any liability to surrender units arising to the
Crown under the Kyoto Protocol have been satisfied.
"Forest" land is defined as:
“a minimum area of land of 1.0 hectare with tree crown cover (or equivalent stocking level) of more than 30 per cent in each hectare with the potential to reach a minimum height of 5 metres at maturity in situ.
A forest may consist either of closed forest formations where trees of various storey's and undergrowth cover a high proportion of the ground or open forest.
Young natural stands and all plantations which have yet to reach a crown density of 30 per cent or tree height of 5 metres are included under forest, as are areas normally forming part of the forest area which are temporarily unstocked as a result of human intervention such as harvesting or natural causes but which are expected to revert to forest”.
A guide for determining whether forest meets this definition is available2 and applies to afforestation under the AGS, the ETS, and the PFSI.
The assessment of the eligibility of an applicant’s land is based upon the information provided in their application.
Hawke’s Bay Regional Council will, as required, carry out an inspection to confirm that the land is eligible to receive a grant.
Non-compliant land within an application area must be identified in any application, and will not be eligible for a grant.
The minimum application size is 5 hectares. This area may consist of multiple areas of at least 1 hectare.
Shelterbelts or riparian strips less than 30 metres average width (canopy-edge to canopy-edge) are not eligible. However, afforestation on both sides of a waterway can be assessed as one riparian strip with the width of the waterway excluded from the width measurement.
How funds will be allocated?
Annual funding from the Regional Council Pool is summarised in the following table:
Grants will be allocated on the basis of sequestration rates. As a general guide, the regional Council Pool will follow the 70:30 ratio between high sequestration rate forests and low sequestration rate forests.
Any unspent balances will be carried over to the following year. Alternatively funds may move between the Regional Council Pool and the Public Pool depending on demand.
Each Regional Council will co-ordinate applications for their region, ensuring that the co-benefits of soil erosion, water quality and biodiversity are met for each application. A ranking system will guide Regional Councils in their discussions with landowners.
Applications that will clearly not satisfy the objectives of the Regional Council Pool will be directed to the Public Pool.
Participating Regional Councils will forward the list of applications to the National Allocation Panel within 30 days of the closing date for applications.
Maximum grant rates will be set for each afforestation category that will reflect the rate of carbon sequestration, and the risks to the Crown of retaining carbon ownership. The grant will reflect the rate of carbon sequestration over the first 10 years of the rotation.
The grant rates agreed to on a per hectare basis for the period up to 30 June 2010 are:
- $2,400 + GST for fast growing species
- $1,000 + GST for slow growing species
( A species list with annual carbon uptakes is available in the information booklet)
Species capable of a Mean Annual Increment of 15 or greater are described as ‘Fast Growing”.
Regional Council Pool - Applying for a Grant
The application process will be:
- Applicants submit grant application (Appendix 2) via Hawke’s Bay Regional Council;
- Hawke’s Bay Regional Council acknowledges receipt of grant application;
- Confirmation that species are suitable for the sites;
- Onsite inspection and audit of information submitted.
- The application will be considered, approved, renegotiated or declined.
- The administrator may at his or her sole discretion decline any tender.
Timing of the Annual Tender Programme will be as follows:
Successful applicants will have 12 months from the tender closing date to provide the required information.
Unsuccessful tenders from earlier rounds may be re-submitted as a new grant application to this or the Public Pool for the same areas, or investors may choose to enter the ETS or the PFSI as an alternative.
Grant approvals may be extended due to unforeseen circumstances, for example, seedling unavailability, delays in negotiating forestry rights etc. Requests for extensions will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Further information may be requested on receipt of an application. If this information is not supplied within a three month period, the tender will lapse and the applicant must reapply.
The land management officer or equivalent Regional Council Officer, when considering an area of land for afforestation should score the relative attributes of that landscape according to the criteria outlined in the information booklet. The resulting ‘score’ can then be used as a guide as to which is the most appropriate fund to apply to. The area is assessed for other value:
- Soil conservation
- Water quality
- Biodiversity
A grantee may lodge a claim for payment when the forest is successfully established including a statutory declaration to that effect, and when a geospatial map of the planted area is supplied. Normally, this will be at least six weeks after the tree releasing operation in the spring following planting.
- The process prior to making a claim will be:
- Forest area planted;
- Notify Land Management Advisor that project completed;
- An inspection of the completed project will be carried out by Land Management Advisor;
- Payment approved and processed by LMA.
With assisted indigenous reversion, a claim may be lodged when the operations specified in the application such as fencing, animal control etc have been completed.
The administrator will audit a proportion of claims to confirm compliance with the establishment standard, and will generally make payments within 30 working days of receiving claims. Adjustments may be made to claims if part of the application area is deemed to have not met the standard.
Other relevant trading schemes
Link to Permanent Forest Sink Initiative (PFSI)
Link to Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS)