Rarakau is Aotearoa New Zealand’s first supply of carbon offsets (certified to the Plan Vivo carbon standard based in the UK) from tall indigenous rainforest, located in western Southland at the start of the Hump Ridge track. This project places into permanent protection 738 hectares of Māori owned indigenous rainforest on SILNA (South Island Landless Natives Act 1906) land, owned by the Rowallan Alton Incorporation (RAI).
The land was once considered unproductive farmland with areas of native bush and indigenous logging. Today, however a different story is unfolding. Rarakau is thriving with dense tall indigenous rainforest now protected by a conservation covenant. The funds that RAI receive from supplying carbon offsets to businesses and individuals is put towards the ongoing management of conserving the rainforest and the development of the local community. This includes:
Training young people
Developing the farm
Providing future education and employment opportunities
This provides taonga tuku iho (intergenerational protection of highly valued taonga). Purchasing carbon offsets from this project will support this aspiration.
Left-hand Photo: Ekos staff member Dr Narendra Chand (left), and Rarakau management committee member Mike Gibbs recording forest data at Rarakau; Right-hand photo: Aimee Hyland (Ekos), Mike Gibbs (Rarakau) and Dr Narendra Chand (Ekos) at the forest edge and adjacent to the beach looking out to Te Waewae Bay. (Photo credit: Ekos)
During recent field work at Rarakau, we surveyed an array of flourishing forest types as part of the cycle of measurement and reporting required by the standard to which this project is certified (the Plan Vivo standard based in Scotland). This included broadleaf forest, beech forest, podocarp forest, and tree fern forest. The most dominant forest type was beech forest including Tāwhairaunui (hard beech and red beech) and Tawhai (silver beech).
The broadleaved forests are dominated by Kāmahi, Pāpāuma (shining broadleaf), Horoeka (lancewood), Rātā, Kōhūhū, Putaputāwētā (marble leaf), Horopito (pepper tree) and Māpou (red matipo). The podocarp forests are populated with Rimu (red pine), Kahikatea (white pine), Tōtara, Miro and Mataī. The tree fern forests are mainly abundant with Whekī-ponga and Whekī.
Kereru (wood pigeon), Korimako (bell bird), Pīwakawaka (fantail), Kōkō (tui), Ngirungiru (tomtit), Kakaruwai (robin) and Kakariki (small green parrot) were all recorded during this recent field work. The most common birds present at each plot were bell birds and fantails, whilst the most common bird across the whole forest was fantail.
Birds of the Rarakau Forest amongst dense beech poles (Left image: Kakaruwai, Middle image: Ngirungiru, Right image: Pīwakawaka). (Photo credit: Ekos)
Creating projects through in the international voluntary carbon market is a complex process. Currently Ekos are in the early stages of scoping the potential to develop other projects like Rarakau in Southland with funding from Te Puni Kōkiri (TPK). The creation of more projects like Rarakau will benefit Maori landowners and show what integrated land management for indigenous landowners could be. The Rarakau outcomes also demonstrate how earnings from carbon credits can greatly benefit the local community.