The Paraparaumu land is for sale due to a bankruptcy, and is advertised as prime commercial or residential land.

However, writing on the blog of advocacy group Low Carbon Kāpiti, climate change policy expert Paul Callister says much of the land is wetland with seasonal standing water. “This land is flood prone and, aside from the low sand dunes, not suitable for development.”

The group, with the backing of Low Carbon Kāpiti and the Kāpiti-Mana branch of Forest & Bird, has launched a petition urging the council to seize the opportunity to purchase the land and hold it as a strategic asset. “If the council does this, it will have the ability to directly plan and coordinate its development. If the land stays in private ownership, council will have much less influence over what happens to it, and the outcomes are not likely to serve the community's interests or the climate anywhere near as well,” Callister says.

The situation could be a test case for legislation around wetlands, Callister says. “[The legislation] is supposed to protect historic and current wetlands. In the past how such land would have been developed would have been fattening the sand dunes to fill in wetlands.”

The group is reacting quickly to seeing the "For Sale" sign, so Callister says they haven’t yet done a detailed analysis of the carbon saving potential. ”But its 28 hectares of peat land and drying peat gives off about 30 tonnes of carbon per year, so over 800 tonnes per year would potentially be saved by turning that around.

“But actually sequestering carbon takes time, so in the short term it's more about stopping emissions. But eventually podocarp forest would also be planted in some areas – and totara and kahikatea are good at sucking up carbon – but again it's in the long term that through wetland restoration and forest planting it would become a carbon sink.”

The Kāpiti Coast has a high level of engagement with volunteer groups restoring land, Callister says. “So we would imagine a group would be formed here to work with the council.”

The land sale deadline is 8 Dec 2022.