A number of high-profile Kiwis are backing an expert-led plan to restore 2.1 million hectares of native forest across New Zealand over the next decade.
'Recloaking Papatūānuku' would cost half of what we will have to spend on international carbon credits to meet our Paris Agreement targets, with the added bonus of soaking up more emissions.
In Māori mythology, Papatūānuku is the Earth Mother.
Before people arrived, she was mostly cloaked in lush native forest, much of which has been cut down.
But now there's a plan to bring large swathes of it back.
"To enrich, regenerate, and plant at least 2 million hectares of indigenous forest," said Phillip Mills, founder of Les Mills.
'Recloaking Papatūānuku' is a plan to incentivise landowners to restore Aotearoa's degraded native forest.
It includes incentives for trapping pests and planting new native forest across the landscape to sequester carbon.
It obviously makes no sense to import carbon credits from offshore, instead we need to create our own resilience and our own reductions here in Aotearoa," said Geoff Ross, owner of Lake Hāwea Station.
Treasury estimates New Zealand could spend up to $24 billion on international carbon offsets, such as paying other countries to restore forests, to meet the Government's 2030 emissions reduction target under the Paris Agreement.
Meanwhile, restoring and planting 2 million hectares of native forest here could cost much less - between $8.5b and $12.1b by 2050.
"This will cover all of our emissions commitments and it will save us from having to spend money overseas on what are generally some pretty dodgy offsets," Mills told Newshub.
"If you don't meet your national commitments you've got to buy them."
It's proposed that the Government repurpose the money it plans to spend on offshore credits, with landowners getting a yearly incentive payment to support the change in land use.
There are other benefits to restoring this much native forest too, such as preventing erosion, protecting native species, creating jobs in planting and pest management, and bolstering our trade reputation.
"I think almost 90 per cent of New Zealand's earnings are tied to the reputation of our brand, of New Zealand Inc, so it's absolutely important that we not only slow climate change, we actually improve our brand image on the world stage," Ross told Newshub.
It's an innovative home-grown solution to the global climate challenge.
