TZ1 Market to offer trading in rainforest credits

Thursday 14th August 2008

NZX, manager of New Zealand's stock exchange, will begin offering trading in rainforest credits through its TZ1 Market, adding to its carbon market.

The securities are known as Biodiversity Conservation Certificates, each representing a small plot of protected rainforest in Malaysia. The certificates are being sold to endow a conservation trust that's expected to generate a return on investment.

The TZ1 Biodiversity Registry listed 1.3 million of the certificates today.

TZ1 becomes the registry for the Malua Wildlife Habitat Conservation Bank, being launched in Malaysia today, according to an NZX statement. The 'bank' is an initiative of Eco Products Fund, a private equity fund jointly managed by Washington, D.C.-based New Forests Inc., New York-based Equator Environmental LLC, and the government of Malaysia's Sabah province.

NZX last month announced TZ1 had become a global registry for carbon units issued under the Voluntary Carbon Standard program. TZ1's market platform comprises the TZ1 Environmental Markets Registry and the TZ1 Carbon Exchange, according to its website.

The Malua BioBank is a 34,000 hectare area called the Malua Forest Reserve in the state of Sabah, Malaysia, on the island of Borneo, according to the website. The Sabah Government has committed to halting logging in the Malua Forest Reserve for at least the next 50 years, it said.

By Jonathan Underhill

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