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Wednesday 31 August 2022 4:22pm

carbonmainA comprising master’s tourism students and various staff and flat mates spent three hours planting 500 young kānuka trees on the Otago Peninsula.

Laptops are being swapped for spades as tourism students implement some real-world carbon offsetting.

The master’s students are planting 1500 kānuka trees to offset the emissions generated by their field trips.

Professor James Higham says the planting is a bid to make his paper Tourism and Global Environmental Change (TOUR422) carbon neutral - or possibly net positive carbon.

The initial calculations suggest the planting will achieve that aim while also enabling students to engage with a key theme of the course - environmental sustainability and how tourism can be decarbonised both locally and globally.

"It was a lot of fun. And the students have said they are keen to return to the Future Forest and carry on with the job.”

To align with this objective, the class no longer travels to Fiordland but undertakes three field trips in and around Dunedin. While these journeys produce lower emissions, they still create a carbon footprint so an offsetting solution was needed.

That solution came in the form of a stop on the Otago Peninsula field trip - Save The Otago Peninsula (STOP)’s ‘Future Forest’ project on the Hereweka Harbour Cone Block.

Professor Higham had been in contact with STOP Project Co-ordinator Lala Frazer and the idea emerged for the students to help meet tree planting goals in the Smiths Creek Catchment. The catchment planting aims to slow erosion and help filter the water for eels and species such as the native crayfish (koaro) and shrimps (paratya).

“Three weeks later, I got an email from Lala saying, ‘I've ordered 1500 kānuka plants and they'll be delivered around the time of your field trip’.”

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On a recent sunny Saturday, a 20-strong group comprising master’s students and various staff and flat mates spent three hours planting 500 young kānuka trees, which have a 95% survival rate.

“We worked pretty hard and we're about a third of the way through the job. It was a lot of fun. And the students have said they are keen to return to the Future Forest and carry on with the job,” Professor Higham says.

Student Hannah McKeeman says the planting was “an eye-opening experience.”

“I thought it would be interesting to see what carbon offsetting really entailed and to be a part of the amazing work done at Future Forest. It was great to have a hands-on experience in the community that was directly linked to the various environmental issues we have been discussing in the TOUR422 course.

“Overall, it was both a rewarding and valuable learning experience that I am excited to hopefully take part in again.”

Lala says STOP relies on student volunteers but this was the first time students from one course had come as a group.

“While half the planting and maintenance is done by community volunteers, they are often older retired locals. Having groups of young fit people is essential. They are willing to tackle the steep slopes and enjoy the social side of the activity, while being involved in meaningful volunteering.”

Professor Higham says best estimates show the field trips produced a total of 62 kg CO2-e, which would be more than offset by the trees planted.

“Calculations are complex and vary with stages of tree growth but we might expect approximately 15kg of carbon dioxide to be sequestered per kānuka over the first 20 years.

“Having planted 500 kānuka with an estimated 95% survival rate, we are optimistic that in the coming years we will have delivered a ‘net positive carbon’ master’s course.”

The positive student engagement has been really pleasing, Professor Higham says, and will encourage future offsetting projects.

“It [carbon offsetting field trips] is certainly something I'm committed to into the future. It does mirror in some ways initiatives at the university around air travel and offsetting other difficult to abate emissions that we might produce.

“It’s been a really positive experience for all of us. And hugely appreciated by the STOP, getting all those trees in the ground.”

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