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Māori business group Te Taumata wants the UN to investigate Government plans to reform the Emissions Trading Scheme, amid concerns the proposals are putting a “$16b economic opportunity for Māori at risk”.
Members of Te Taumata would call for the UN investigation during meetings in Geneva in the coming week, the group said in a statement on Friday.
The ETS review would have far reaching implications for Māori land rights as well as the future of the Māori economy.
“The current proposals are putting a $16 billion economic opportunity for Māori at risk,” Te Taumata chair Chris Karamea Insley said.
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“Under the existing ETS settings, Māori have been actively engaged in using and preparing marginal lands to provide significant development and investment opportunities.
“With the ETS market in chaos and the Government failing to properly consult with Māori, we are concerned that much of that value has already been eroded and will take many years to recover.”
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Under existing ETS settings, Māori had been actively engaged in using and preparing marginal lands to provide significant development and investment opportunities, Te Taumata said. (file pic)
Climate Change Minister James Shaw and his officials had worked in secret for six months on their plans to radically reform the ETS without any meaningful consultation with Māori, Insley said.
“The Human Rights Commission will hear of the palpable anger Māori have felt at the way the Government has acted over this issue in order to pursue a purely political agenda, undermining the future of Māori in order to attract a few Green votes at the upcoming election.”
Te Taumata described itself as a trade collective that worked with Māori businesses and advocates for the interests of Māori, and represented a broad range of Māori forestry groups.
Members were to meet the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva on Saturday. They would also be taking part in next week’s session of the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
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