Investing in Breath

Roger Dickie New Zealand Ltd is offering investors shares in Onslow Carbon Forest, an established Douglas-fir forest east of the township of Roxburgh for $25,000 allowing investors the potential to earn carbon credits, and profit, through private timberland ownership. “Forests, in a nutshell, are the lungs of the world,” Roger Dickie marketing manager Richard Bourne says. “On average over the last decade, the world has been losing approximately 15 million hectares of forest per year. While deforestation is responsible for emissions, too much emphasis has been placed on reducing deforestation and not enough on reforestation. Reforestation can play a significant role in offsetting emissions.” Roger Dickie, a figure in the New Zealand timberland investment sphere for several years, has established and managed 84 forests totaling 28,000 hectares worldwide. Bourne believes a forest by its very nature provides unique real estate investment advantages: “By natural growth Mother Nature contributes to the growing value of the asset,” he says, “and you never have a tenant problem.”