Permanent Forest Sink Initiative

About the PFSI

The Permanent Forest Sink Initiative (PFSI) promotes the establishment of permanent forests on previously unforested land.

It offers landowners of permanent forests established after 1 January 1990 the opportunity to earn Kyoto Protocol compliant emission units (Assigned Amount Units or AAUs) for the carbon sequestered by their forests since 1 January 2008.

To be eligible, the forest must be "direct human induced .... through planting, seeding and/or the human-induced promotion of natural seed sources".

PFSI participants enter a covenant with the Crown which is registered against their land title(s). The covenant is in perpetuity, with the right to terminate after a minimum term of 50 years. Landowners are responsible for establishing and maintaining the forest. Limited harvesting is allowed on a continuous cover forestry basis. To register, landowners need to complete an application form and forest sink plan.

The PFSI is complementary to the forestry in the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). Landowners should also consider their options under the ETS.

The Field Measurement Approach (FMA) for recording changes in carbon stocks has been approved by Cabinet.

The FMA will be compulsory for all forest owners with 100 hectares or more in either the ETS or PFSI.

Details, including regulations, standards and a comprehensive guide will be published soon, on the Field Measurement Approach page.