Our 2011 election manifesto - Labour Party

closely with the industry and key stakeholders to ensure that the opportunities for the
use of wood are not only optimised, but created.
● Community engagement, including a much more proactive schools and educational
strategy.
● Stakeholder engagement, ensuring that all potential participants are kept very well
informed and up to date with everything that is going on in all sectors of the forest and
forest products industry.
One of New Zealand‟s competitive advantages is as a grower of sustainably managed
forests. This is one aspect of the branding that will be used to differentiate New Zealand‟s
forest products in overseas markets.
There are a number of international organisations providing certification to sustainably
managed forests and forest products, and it is important to ensure that all Crown and Crownpartnered
forests are certified under the appropriate programme.
Labour will work closely with international standards to ensure that all New Zealand
logs, lumber and wood products are certified as coming from sustainably managed
forests.
New Zealand must continue to lead the debate and champion the cause of forestry in carbon
sequestration. We were instrumental in getting post 1990 plantation forests included into a
country‟s carbon calculation. Further research must continue on the level of carbon storage
by timber products used in the construction process, and then this data can be used to
further market the benefits of using wood products in the building industry.
Labour will proactively lead New Zealand‟s forestry advocacy team at any future
carbon negotiation summits / conferences.
We must also be willing to take the lead in promoting the use of sustainable wood products
here at home.
Labour will promote the use of timber in the construction of government buildings. All
government building projects four stories or under will be required to consider the use
of timber as the primary building material. All significant building tenders for
government buildings will be required to include a section that quantifies the carbon
used all along the supply chain during the proposed construction process (and
associated costs and benefits).
The reasons for this are threefold:
● International studies have proven that timber products continue to retain carbon
throughout their life, and only release their full carbon content upon burning. New
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