New Zealand State Farm to Convert 600 Hectares Into Native Forest for Nature Credits
New Zealand’s state-owned farming enterprise Pāmu announced on Monday, May 11, that it plans to convert approximately 600 hectares — around 1,483 acres — of farmland into native forest over three to five years, generating independently verified nature-based carbon credits for sale to domestic and international buyers. Pāmu will make sure that someone checks to make sure these carbon credits are real. The announcement follows a formal government move to back a voluntary nature credits market, marking a significant shift in how the country manages land, emissions, and ecosystem investment.
Pāmu’s plan involves converting the farmland into native forest to generate high-quality nature credits, timed to coincide with the government’s Monday endorsement of a voluntary nature credits market. Pāmus plan with the forest and nature credits is what they are focusing on. WTVB
Pāmu and not-for-profit organisation True Nature have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to explore native afforestation and restoration projects across Pāmu’s farm network. The project will identify around 600 hectares over three to five years and generate independently verified nature-based carbon credits meeting the criteria of the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market. Farmers Weekly
Those credits can then be sold to meet both international and domestic demand.
New Zealand’s Emissions Trading Scheme currently favours fast-growing pine forestry over native forests, whose slower growth makes them less attractive for carbon returns. But large-scale pine planting has generated debate over erosion, pest management, and land-use change. The new government framework is designed to offer an alternative path — one that rewards native reforestation rather than exotic species plantations. WTVB
Pāmu Nature Investment Officer Annabel Davies said the initiative is about unlocking value that has gone unrecognised on farm balance sheets. “For a long time, farmers generally have talked about ineffective hectares, and Pamu has a belief that they’re not ineffective hectares — so this is about realising value from those areas,” she said. WTVB
A Market-Led Solution to an Offshore Problem
True Nature Chief Executive Robyn Haugh said the absence of a domestic nature credit supply has pushed New Zealand companies to spend money overseas. “To date, New Zealand hasn’t had anyone restoring land and generating those credits from New Zealand-based projects, so companies were forced to go offshore,” she said. WTVB
Haugh said the framework addresses two connected needs at once — one for large companies with emissions targets, and one for landholders seeking income from underperforming land. True Nature said it would use a grouped project model under an international voluntary carbon market standard, allowing sites of different sizes to be aggregated into one project — a structure intended to reduce technical, legal, and administrative costs for landholders. WTVB
The work would focus largely on marginal or unproductive land, including riparian areas, steep slopes, erosion-prone land, and areas where native bush is already regenerating. WTVB
“Our aim is that native reforestation can work alongside traditional farming operations,” Haugh said. “It sits alongside them, it doesn’t necessarily take over.”
Government Framework and Assurance Role
The government said new native reforesting projects will be able to opt into a pathway assessed by an independent assurer in the coming months, and it will recognise schemes accredited by reputable international bodies. The aim is to channel funding into projects that restore ecosystems or remove greenhouse gases. WTVB
Associate Minister for the Environment Andrew Hoggard described the government’s role as a light-touch quality check rather than regulatory control. “Think of it like a warrant of fitness for the market,” Hoggard said. “It’s light touch, but it gives people confidence the fundamentals are sound. That’s what unlocks investment.” Farmers Weekly
Hoggard said international and domestic investors — including corporates, banks, and philanthropists — are seeking high-quality nature and carbon credits that meet global standards. “New Zealand companies spent millions on carbon and nature credits mainly offshore last year. With the right framework, we can keep more of that investment at home,” he said. Beehive
The scheme also opens public conservation land to privately funded nature and climate projects that deliver benefits above and beyond what the Crown already funds. Projects that enhance biodiversity — such as managing native vegetation, riparian planting, or a catchment group-constructed wetland — could earn credits for sale to businesses or groups seeking to enhance their environmental credentials. Farmers Weekly
Regional and Global Market Impact
A March 2026 report by BNZ, Deloitte, and The Nature Conservancy Aotearoa New Zealand found that carbon markets are projected to grow from NZ$2.5 billion today to as much as NZ$35.5 billion by 2030. The report identified strong and growing demand for high-integrity nature-based carbon credits, but noted that local supply in New Zealand remains limited. The Nature Conservancy
Associate Minister Hoggard noted that for many export buyers, demonstrating real nature outcomes is becoming part of the licence to trade — affecting both market access and price. Silver Fern Farms Chief Executive Dan Boulton said the shift is reshaping how New Zealand is assessed internationally. “Nature positive production is fast becoming central to how New Zealand will be judged as a food producer,” Boulton said. Business.ScoopBusiness.Scoop
The report identified a clear demand from New Zealand buyers — including corporates, financial institutions, and landowners — for nature-based credits generated domestically, close to their communities and supply chains. International buyers also represent a significant growth opportunity for New Zealand’s nature-based credit market. The Nature Conservancy
Background
The New Zealand government moved to repeal the previous government’s direction to councils to identify and map Significant Natural Areas by suspending parts of the National Policy Statement on Indigenous Biodiversity. The voluntary nature credits framework is positioned as an alternative incentive-based approach to biodiversity protection — rewarding landowners rather than regulating them. Beehive
Several pilot programmes are already underway across different land conditions and locations. They include Te Toa Whenua Northland, which is transitioning around 100 hectares from exotic forestry to native forest on iwi-owned land led by Reconnecting Northland, and the Waituna Nature Credits Prototype in Southland, which is restoring 400 hectares of farmland at lagoon margins to lowland forest and wetlands at a RAMSAR-protected site. Beehive
True Nature’s credit programme will build on work started by non-profit Trees That Count, which has been funding high-integrity native reforestation projects through philanthropy. The new commercial structure is intended to scale that work significantly. WTVB
What Happens Next
The government said it will introduce an independent assurance pathway for new native reforesting projects in the coming months. Pāmu and True Nature’s Memorandum of Understanding marks the beginning of an identification process, with the 600-hectare target set to be realised over three to five years, generating credits that will meet Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market criteria. WTVBFarmers Weekly
The pilots already underway will inform the government’s understanding of how to meet high international market standards and determine the appropriate role for government in the next stage of market design. The pilots will inform the government about this. Hoggard said the government’s endorsement of the principles is meant to give potential participants enough certainty to begin assessing how involvement could work for their own operations.
