“We are receiving ongoing concerns from members about imported timber products entering New Zealand with dubious certification — creating risks for building safety, consumer protection, environmental integrity and fair competition for domestic processors,” according to Mark Ross, CEO of the Wood Processors and Manufacturers Association, who flagged the issue in his monthly newsletter to members.

“And with no border enforcement in New Zealand by regulators and the 2025 Building Act changes set to ease the use of overseas wooden building products, the risk of non‑compliant timber entering the New Zealand domestic building and construction market is increasing.”

Now, Ross is calling for stronger verification systems, border enforcement checks on imported timber, clearer regulatory responsibilities and improved industry collaboration, with the WPMA prepared to take the issue directly to political parties — armed with case studies — in the lead‑up to the national election later this year. ·

The Government has announced a major shakeup to New Zealand’s construction rules and building material standards, aiming to lower the cost of building new homes. How will it be easier to get overseas products into New Zealand? We talked to the construction industry to hear their concerns.

His calls come on the back of an Australian study which found that 63 per cent of imported timber carrying private certifications was incorrectly labelled. That report — published by Australia’s Department of Agriculture under the Freedom of Information Act and analysed by Source Certain — also found that half of all sampled products could not accurately verify the provenance of the wood, while all Australian‑grown timber was correctly labelled.

Closer to home, those concerns have also been sharpened by the Luxon government’s Building (Overseas Building Products, Standards, and Certification Schemes) Amendment Act 2025, which created three new pathways to make it easier to use overseas building products in New Zealand. At the time, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk said the legislation would make up to 250,000 products available to New Zealanders, with building consent authorities now required to accept overseas‑certified products as complying with the Building Code.

But with timber framing still dominant in New Zealand construction — and conditions including high UV, seismic activity and coastal exposure that differ sharply from those in many exporting countries — industry feedback points to recurring issues with products that don’t stack up to the claims on the paperwork. Penk has acknowledged the need for caution, telling Parliament that his government is focused on “ensuring only top‑quality materials enter the market” and that regulations would include “targeted consultation with industry leaders and local government.”

• To learn more about certification fraud in global timber supply chains, click here for Wood Central’s special feature.

Under the terms of the agreement, the company will be rebranded as NP Wood Fibre Company Limited and operated as a formal joint venture between the two partners. And for Nippon Paper, the move represents a major step in its long-running effort to diversify procurement and secure a stable softwood supply for the Japanese pulp and paper sector, while also looking further abroad for new markets across Asia.

NP Wood Fibre exported more than 220,000 GMT of radiata pine last year

Marusumi Whangarei, founded in 1995 as a joint venture between Marusumi Paper and Marubeni Corporation, has been a key supplier of softwood chips to Japan for decades. Its Whangarei operation includes a chip mill and port‑side handling facilities, and Marusumi Paper exported more than 220,000 GMT of radiata pine chips last year.

“NP Wood Fibre Company Limited will operate a major New Zealand softwood chip production and export business, leveraging the country’s abundant forest resources and positioning itself to meet the anticipated growth in global demand for softwood chips,” Nippon Paper said in a statement last week. “For NPI, the transaction supports the diversification of procurement sources and the establishment of a stable supply of softwood resources for the Japanese market.”

“In collaboration with Pentarch Forestry, NP Wood Fibre will also market softwood chips across the Asian market, thereby enhancing the revenue potential of the Nippon Paper Group’s timber-related businesses. Furthermore, NP Wood Fibre will combine the Nippon Paper Group’s expertise in hardwood plantation management, woodchip production and export operations in Brazil and Australia with Pentarch Forestry’s capabilities across lumber, woodchip and other timber-related businesses.”

Wood Central understands that NP Wood Fibre will continue operating in the Whangarei area of New Zealand’s Northland region, retain its current staff, and maintain its focus on producing and exporting radiata pine chips for pulp and paper manufacturing.

But one should surely sit above the rest: why do we keep accepting the human and financial cost of this risk?

While it might be assumed that earthquakes or volcanic eruptions are Aotearoa’s deadliest natural hazards, landslides have claimed more than twice as many lives – approximately 1,800 – as both combined over the past 200 years.

They remain such an insidious and under-appreciated hazard because they cause deaths relatively frequently, but typically only in small numbers. Being one of the most fatal New Zealand landslides since 1846, last month’s tragedy at Mount Maunganui was a stark exception.

A useful analogy is our tolerance for car crashes versus aeroplane crashes. Road deaths in New Zealand kill hundreds of people each year, one by one, with little national reckoning. The 1979 Mount Erebus air disaster, in which 257 people were killed in one afternoon, forever changed aviation policy and remains part of the country’s collective memory.

In natural hazard terms, landslides are car crashes; earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are aeroplane crashes. Yet, with climate change driving heavier rainfall, it’s worth asking whether this is a danger we should be comfortable to continue living with – and paying for.

Since 2010, central government has incurred about NZ$19 billion in costs associated with natural hazards, but 97% of that has gone on response and recovery, with just 3% on reducing risk and building resilience. In practice, New Zealand keeps paying for disasters after they happen, rather than spending to stop them happening in the first place.

A hazard hiding in plain sight

The risk of landslides, specifically, is managed through a complex mix of laws, led by the Resource Management Act (RMA). It largely falls to territorial authorities, which can restrict new developments but, due to land use rights, are more constrained with existing buildings even if at high risk.

There have been some successful attempts to change land use rules, but they have been few and far between. It remains to be seen what effect the latest reforms to the RMA will have.

Recent disasters have also exposed gaps in how local councils, emergency services, central government agencies and insurers respond to events, with unclear responsibilities and slow information flows. This underscores the need for a more joined-up response to events such as floods and landslides, as a high-level inquiry recommended in 2024.

On top of all this is the need to gain a clearer national picture of the hazard. Past landslides indicate where failures are most likely: steep slopes, weak rock, wet soils and sparse vegetation, particularly where forestry was recently cleared. But outcomes also depend on subtler factors such as slope shape and aspect.

We also know landslides come in different shapes and sizes, which determines how far they travel and how much area they can threaten. In New Zealand, the most common type are shallow slides, typically one to two metres deep and involving only the top layer of soil.

Despite their size, these slides can be highly dangerous, carrying hundreds of tonnes of debris at high speed. Their paths are not always straightforward: wet landslide debris can behave like a liquid, following channels in the landscape and travelling for kilometres.

While scientists’ understanding of landslides has improved markedly over recent decades, important gaps remain. Because landslides are highly localised, they demand detailed local knowledge. But New Zealand’s inventories are still patchy, particularly in Northland and the Bay of Plenty, and existing local studies are often hard to access or compare.

This also makes it harder to understand precisely what climate change means for national landslide risk.

Although a warming climate is already driving more intense and frequent storms, emerging research suggests future landslides will mostly increase in areas already prone to them, rather than spread into entirely new regions. Even so, uncertainty in these projections remains high.

The cost of living with risk

To paraphrase New Zealand’s former prime minister Sir Geoffrey Palmer, if you want natural hazards, you’re in the right place in Aotearoa. Managing the ever-present threat from landslides, earthquakes, volcanoes, flooding, tsunamis, liquefaction and wildfire is a daunting responsibility. But it’s a job we expect our authorities to do, all while running other services and keeping our rates and taxes as low as possible.

With the cost of landslides mounting, we might expect that when local authorities identify actions to reduce risk that could save money in the long run, these efforts would be welcomed by central government. Instead, they are often met with a phrase we have become too familiar with: we are in a “fiscally challenging environment”.

That may be. But it is also true that the costs associated with natural hazards are only likely to increase. The cheapest time to invest in resilience is now.

When it comes to landslides, we need to consider whether repeated fatalities from a known and worsening hazard are something we are prepared to tolerate. Aeroplane crashes have always been unacceptable to us, but the 2019 Ministry of Transport Road to Zero strategy suggested deaths in car crashes were becoming intolerable as well.

Perhaps now is the time to take a similar approach to landslides. With an election looming, political parties have a chance to put forward credible plans to reduce natural hazard risk or, better still, to agree on a non-partisan path that builds resilience for the long term.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

The 1100‑hectare block, managed by agri‑advisory firm Lewis Tucker, was originally farmland before being purchased in 2019 and planted in radiata pine the following year. In July, the Wairoa District Council lifted the property’s annual rates from $30,000 to $200,000.

In a submission to the government’s local‑government reform programme, Lewis Tucker said that while it “broadly supported the intent to simplify local government,” limits on differential rating were now “critical for business confidence.”

Speaking to Radio New Zealand, Lewis Tucker, CEO Colin Jacobs said the increase amounts to an extra $5 million in rates over the life of the forest. “There’s been no reason given to us as to why a forestry company should pay such large differential rates,” he said. “What costs are we causing that justify that increased rate?”

Jacobs said the jump raises fundamental questions about whether the forest remains financially viable. “While there has been no explanation for the increase, the assumption is that the extra $5 million this property will now pay in rates over the life of the forest will go to pay for the impact of forestry on roads come harvest time.”

He also noted that the council applied the differential only to forests planted after 31 December 1989. “This suggests that the council’s concern is not the impact of forestry on roading, as a differential rate is being applied only to forests registered in the ETS.”

Wood Central understands the Wairoa District Council introduced new forestry differentials in 2022 following a review aimed at recognising the negative impacts of large‑scale forest conversion, including the hollowing‑out of rural communities. The Forest Owners Association challenged the changes in the High Court, but the Court of Appeal upheld the council’s approach.

According to Dr Elizabeth Heeg, CEO of the New Zealand Forest Owners Association, growers support a “soft cap” on differential rates. “Foresters just want to be a fair member of the community,” she said. “There are times when it’s appropriate to have differential rates, but having a differential where the rates are going up over 500 per cent is not fair.”

She said the association will propose a soft cap supported by stronger taxation principles. “We’ll be proposing a soft cap that is accompanied by the introduction of good taxation principles into local‑government legislation, to ensure that when councils are rating us, it’s based on an actual need in the community — and that it’s not just a differential that’s a secondary form of regulation.”

Wairoa District Council chief executive Matt Lawson said the increase reflected a change in land use. The property had previously been categorised as vacant forestry, but the 2024 Quotable Value revaluation reclassified it as exotic forestry.

Lawson said most of the economic benefits of forestry — “wages, profits and opportunities” — leave the district, while Wairoa is left to manage the impact of heavy logging trucks on rural roads.

Meanwhile, Local Government New Zealand has warned that a national cap on rates could undermine efforts to strengthen emergency management. LGNZ president Rehette Stoltz said that while the government has proposed exemptions for urgent or unforeseen situations, limiting councils’ ability to raise revenue could restrict proactive investment in risk reduction.

Among the hardest hit was City Forests, which manages a 25,000-hectare estate across Otago–Southland. The company estimates it lost around 500 hectares, mostly within its South Otago coastal forests. That follows earlier estimates from Wenita Forest Products, which reported about 250 hectares of damage in the same coastal belt.

But despite the scale of the event, City Forests chief executive Grant Dodson said the region has so far avoided the extreme weather seen in parts of the North Island. “We always lose a few trees, but nothing out of the ordinary,” he said.

Dodson said the storm’s most destructive period lasted less than an hour, yet the pattern of damage was highly irregular. “There were runs down gullies, pockets on ridges, it was all very random.”

Many of the affected trees were already scheduled for harvest within the next five years, allowing crews to be redirected to salvage windthrown timber. Dodson expects it will take about a year before operations return to normal. “It is a setback, but not catastrophic.”

He noted that fully mechanised logging crews have significantly improved the safety of the recovery effort, warning that farmers and landowners should be cautious when dealing with toppled trees. “If they misread a log wrong, it can blow up.”

Trees lying under tension can release enormous stored energy when cut, posing serious risks.

Wenita chief executive David Cormack said their damage was largely confined to two blocks south of Dunedin — Berwick and Otago Coast. Like City Forests, he described the storm’s impact as sporadic, with pockets of heavy destruction alongside areas barely touched.

Cormack said the immediate priority is recovering radiata pine that snapped off the stem, as quality declines quickly once the tree is on the ground. Trees still attached to the stem can survive longer, giving crews more time to work through the backlog. Salvage operations will continue for several months, replacing scheduled harvesting.

To restore uniformity in affected stands, Wenita also plans to harvest undamaged trees adjacent to wind‑thrown areas. In total, around 500 hectares will eventually be harvested as a result of the storm.

According to Todd McClay, NZ’s Forestry Minister, the move would deliver relief to forest owners and restore confidence in the ETS. “The last Labour Government wanted forest owners to pay an excessive $30.25 per hectare per year, forcing the sector to take legal action. We’re lowering that, for a second time, to $10.25,” McClay said. “All forest owners will benefit from these revised settings.”

McClay said the reforms were designed to “ensure cost recovery reflects the true costs of administering forestry in the ETS while upholding high service standards.” Wood Central understands that the proposal – now open for public consultation – follows a second independent review of ETS operational costs, and comes after the first, in 2024, saw the government cut the ETS to $14.90 per hectare.

Key changes under consultation include:

• Lowering the annual charge for post‑1989 forest land to $10.25 per hectare
• Updating service fees, including a reduced hourly rate and revised time estimates
• Introducing eight new targeted service fees for activities that provide specific private benefits to participants

The government is also seeking feedback on an alternative reduced annual charge for forests that no longer need to report carbon stock changes—an option that would apply for a limited period.

Respite comes as confidence in carbon forestry remains fragile.

According to new market analysis, published in QCIntel, carbon‑forestry applications fell 14% last year, reflecting ongoing uncertainty around ETS settings, carbon price trajectories, and long‑term investment signals. The government hopes the revised cost structure, which could take effect mid-year, will help stabilise participation and support the sector’s contribution to New Zealand’s export economy and emissions‑reduction targets.

That is according to Dr Gary Raftery, Research Director at the University’s Circular Innovations Research Centre, who oversees durability and performance research within the Structural Timber Innovation Laboratory, and is developing programmes that could open the door to outdoor applications of CLT, a material that is still largely limited to interior environments.

Raftery said that whilst CLT is known for its strength and versatility, unprotected exposure to the elements can lead to rot, mould, dimensional instability and structural compromise. “We want to ensure that solutions align with circular‑economy principles, so cross‑laminated timber elements can be reused, repurposed or recycled at the end of their service life. This data will give designers the confidence to adopt more sustainable construction practices and further support a transition to low‑carbon construction.”

Working with industry partners, Raftery’s team is assessing adhesive and preservative systems to improve CLT’s performance while keeping sustainability front‑of‑mind. At the same time, life‑cycle analysis on end‑of‑life pathways is underway, with early findings already informing design engineers and expected to contribute to future updates to building standards.

To push CLT into more demanding environments, the team is putting the material through some of the harshest conditions applied to CLT panels. Long‑term exposure trials, conducted across outdoor field sites and controlled laboratory simulations, are tracking how timber deteriorates and how its chemical structure changes under stress. At the same time, high‑powered microscopy and chemical‑fingerprinting tools are offering new insights into how CLT responds to moisture, UV radiation and biological attack, building a clearer picture of its performance in fully exposed settings.

CLT, made by stacking and gluing layers of timber boards together, has become a popular low‑carbon material for walls, floors and roofs. Yet its use outdoors remains largely limited, with only a handful of bridges, facades and pavilions built to date. The team is working to change that through durability testing and performance validation.

The research comes as New Zealand accelerates its adoption of mass timber in major public assets, including the new Parliament Building in Wellington, the country’s largest mass‑timber structure built to its highest seismic rating. The six‑storey Museum Street Building, covered by Wood Central last year, is being assembled “like flat‑pack furniture” using glulam and CLT from Red Stag Timberlab, as well as LVL from Nelson Pine. In July, Wood Central reported that crews began installing the first sections of the timber frame in May, with the project progressing zone by zone to maintain weather‑tightness and efficiency.

With early findings already influencing design decisions, the research is expected to progress into real‑world prototype testing and long‑term monitoring, with the potential to inform future revisions of New Zealand’s timber‑design standards

As reported by Farmers Weekly, Scion — now part of the Bioeconomy Science Institute — purchased its first drone in 2015, when UAVs were only just beginning to move beyond military use. Early systems were limited by short battery life, often offering just 15 to 20 minutes of flight time.

That same year, Scion combined a laser scanner with a drone built by New Zealand manufacturer Aeronavics, a company better known for supplying the Hollywood film industry. The pairing opened the door to high‑definition aerial mapping and forest monitoring, laying the foundation for today’s far more advanced systems.

Modern drones now support 3D modelling, sub‑canopy mapping, sample collection, and multi‑function missions in a single pass. These capabilities have transformed how foresters assess tree growth, forest health, and terrain complexity.

Scion scientist Robin Harley said the team is now capturing high‑definition LiDAR imagery for precision tree measurement and rendering detailed maps of forest trials. “We are also exploring niche areas such as sub‑canopy flying for characterising stem and branch structure and collecting upper‑canopy samples,” he said.

The work is increasingly aligned with commercial forestry companies seeking bespoke solutions, including UAV‑based spray systems. As drone power and payload capacity grow, mechanical applications are emerging — from targeted spraying to planting trees on steep or inaccessible terrain.

Afforestation projects are also adopting the technology. In Auckland’s Hunua Ranges, Watercare has used drones to disperse seed pods containing native species, dropping 50,000 pods in just half an hour across rugged catchment land.

Globally, the trend is accelerating. China is preparing for large‑scale drone deployment in forestry, integrating military‑grade technology into agricultural and environmental applications.

LiDAR‑equipped drones are being used to map the country’s expanding tree population and to seed the Great Green Wall — a vast belt of trees designed to halt the spread of the Gobi and Taklamakan deserts. The project, already the world’s largest seeded forest at 66 million trees, is due for completion in 2050.

By 2020, more than 80% of New Zealand’s forestry industry had adopted drones for aerial imagery, whilst LiDAR adoption had jumped from just 17% to 70% in just a few years. A study of 23 companies covering 1.17 million hectares — two‑thirds of the country’s exotic forest estate — found drone‑linked technologies were being used for forest mapping, harvest planning, and cutover analysis.

In this 2008 flashback, senior editor Jim Bowden spoke with Anderton, who responded to a call by the Sustainability Council for agriculture to enter the ETS immediately and pay full liabilities for emissions above 1990 levels.

“We need to remember that New Zealand is the first country in the world to consider bringing the agriculture sector into an emissions trading scheme. This is not a small matter and there are significant challenges to overcome,” Anderton said.

“The agriculture sector is the most important source of export income for New Zealand, representing around 65% of total merchandise exports.

“By phasing agriculture into the ETS over time and in a measured way the taxpayer is actually investing in a transition that benefits the economy as a whole. It is true that the costs are being shared about and managed in a pragmatic way, but the alternative would create too violent a shock for businesses.”

Anderton said the Sustainability Council had identified mitigation opportunities for agriculture, but none had been accepted internationally – as yet – and therefore did not qualify for carbon reductions in New Zealand’s carbon accounts.

At present, the European Union considers that bringing the agriculture sector into its emissions trading scheme would be impractical.

“The New Zealand government made a promise to the sector back in 2003 not to introduce a price measure on the sector in the first commitment period as long as the sector invests in research, which the sector is doing,” Anderton said.

The government has undertaken to work with the agriculture sector to explore whether a farm level point of obligation would be feasible or cost-effective, which would represent a whole new order of magnitude of complexity with more than 30,000 possible participants.

“Farmers are not getting let off the hook here; they are also large energy and fuel users and will be paying the carbon costs associated with these in 2009-10 like every other business and household in New Zealand,” Anderton said.

“Meat and dairy processors will also face increased costs from 2009-10 and these are likely to be passed on to farmers.

“Furthermore, the sector will be responsible for all of the growth in methane and nitrous oxide above 90% of 2005 emissions when it comes into the scheme in 2013, so the clock has already begun ticking. It is for this reason the Government is already working closely with the sector on developing and implementing technologies to reduce emissions.”

Opened by NZ Minister for Mental Health Matt Doocey, the NZ$66.6 million development replaces an outdated unit with a purpose‑built facility designed to set a new benchmark for acute mental‑health care. Wood Central understands that the new building delivers 28 single‑room beds — with capacity to expand to 36 — alongside therapy rooms, natural‑light courtyards, a gym, family spaces and after‑hours crisis services. Every element has been designed to balance clinical functionality with a therapeutic, culturally grounded environment that supports recovery and dignity.

Designed by CCM Architects and Jacobs, the project places nature at the centre of the healing process. Biophilic design principles — including daylight, views, natural materials and access to outdoor space — were embedded from the outset. Timber plays a key role in that strategy, with the design team selecting Accoya Colour grey cladding, supplied by Hermpac, for its natural aesthetics, durability and ability to soften the building’s form.

The uncoated cladding features prominently across the external façade and within the secure internal courtyards, where access to outdoor space is considered vital to patient wellbeing. By introducing a consistent, natural timber finish into these protected areas, the design strengthens the connection between inside and out — a core principle in contemporary mental‑health architecture, where calming, nature‑connected environments are shown to reduce stress and support recovery.

Accoya Color’s performance credentials were equally important. The product carries a 50‑year above‑ground warranty, offering long‑term durability and low‑maintenance benefits suited to a public healthcare asset expected to perform for decades. Its stability and weathering characteristics support the project’s requirement for a resilient, low‑intervention exterior that maintains its appearance over time.

Inside the facility, feature walls finished in lime‑green Accoya complement the grey cladding and reinforce the therapeutic intent, adding subtle colour cues that support wayfinding and contribute to a calmer interior environment.

Beyond material selection, the project incorporates a wide range of safety‑driven and culturally informed design features. Patient rooms include en‑suite bathrooms, anti‑ligature fixtures, storage shelves, USB charging ports and workspaces to reduce environmental triggers. The roofline references the Ruahine, Tararua and Remutaka mountain ranges, while cultural artwork and narratives developed with Rangitāne iwi ensure the building reflects the local community’s identity and values.

Whilst four internal courtyards bring daylight deep into the building, secure ambulance access, upgraded mechanical systems zoned for infection control, real‑time staff‑distress location technology and an internal plantroom mezzanine — allowing maintenance without entering patient areas — demonstrate the project’s focus on safety and operational efficiency.

RCP supported the project from design through to handover, providing client representation, design and construction management, contract administration and operational‑readiness support. Early contractor involvement and value engineering delivered more than $2 million in savings without compromising design intent, while a full‑scale sample room allowed stakeholders to test and refine the layout before construction.

Accsys Group Commercial Director John Alexander said the company was pleased to see Accoya used in such a significant healthcare setting. “We are delighted to see Accoya specified for this important healthcare facility. Its longevity and durability will ensure the facility exterior can maintain its performance and appearance over time, supporting a resilient and welcoming environment for patients, staff, and visitors.”