I thank the members for inviting us to the attend the joint committee. The central message of our presentation is that Ireland's hedgerows are a fantastic asset in a range of different but complementary ways, but we are currently failing to value them, protect them and reward farmers for looking after them. As a consequence, they are being continually removed at a rate of thousands of kilometres a year, and because of the way they are managed, remaining hedgerows are often in poor condition and so are not providing all of the multiple benefits they could. For this reason, we are making a key recommendation that immediate steps are taken to protect our remaining hedgerows from further removal and that a number of other measures are adopted to improve both the management and payment systems for the future. Contrary to previous teaching and advice, it is now accepted that the net economic, climate, biodiversity and social benefits of hedgerows on farms fully justify the land that they occupy on all farms, including tillage and intensive dairy farms, where the losses are often the greatest. Recommending better protection and payment for hedgerows is fully in line with the latest thinking and research on how Ireland can meet our very demanding carbon and climate goals.
Good quality hedgerows do vital things, including carbon sequestration, playing an increasingly important role in flood control, water quality and soil improvement, and providing shelter, shade, disease control, biodiversity sanctuary, and landscape definition - literally how our countryside looks. Despite these benefits, 2,000 km to 6,000 km of hedgerows are still being removed annually in Ireland. The lower figure is from the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, which seems very high in itself, but the extraordinary higher figure of 6,000 km is from the recently published Monaghan hedgerow survey, in which Ms Clerkin was involved. This means that on our watch, a resource that is vital for so many reasons is being lost at a huge rate. We are literally grubbing up and destroying a vital asset, and this is happening on our watch.
Why does it matter? I want to focus briefly on two particular benefits, namely, carbon sequestration and biodiversity. Carbon sequestration is now seen as crucial to farming and the new carbon farming business. The figures for hedgerows are very significant indeed. The Teagasc farm carbon hedgerow project is working on this at the moment, using drone technology. By early next year, we will have a carbon score at an individual farm scale, which has massive implications for carbon accounting as we reach towards our reduction goals. Ms O'Sullivan will be happy to answer questions about it. What is already known is that bigger, wider, taller, denser and more mature hedges store far more carbon. Early results show that approximately 600,000 tonnes of carbon are stored by our hedgerows but the potential could be 1 million tonnes and upwards. The higher figures are directly related to good management methods, the avoidance of, for example, severe or excessive cutting, and, of course, stopping further removal.
Looking at biodiversity, good quality hedgerows are a vital habitat for animals, bird and insect species, particularly pollinators, which as we know are under severe threat. Two thirds of our native birds either feed or nest or both in hedgerows, and they are home to more than 600 of our 800 flowering plants. Because of our very low forest cover, which is 11% compared with the European average of 40%, hedges play a correspondingly far greater role in our biodiversity. We have a lot more to lose if we continue on our current path. Our hedgerows have been described as Ireland’s equivalent of the Amazon rainforest. Again, management techniques are critically important to biodiversity here.
If we are removing thousands of kilometres of hedgerows annually, are there no protective checks and balances against this? First, hedgerows have no direct protection under current law. Indirect protection only is provided during the nesting season under section 40 of the Wildlife Act. In practice, this legislation is unwieldy, has many exemptions and provides no protection out of the so-called closed season. In fact, it is considered to be in breach of the EU birds directive. Second, where landowners plan to remove more than 500 m of hedgerow, they are supposed to apply to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine under the environmental impact assessment regulations. In practice, 95% of these applications are given the go-ahead. In a recent study, no environmental assessments were carried out in the five-year study period. Under cross-compliance, if you take out a hedgerow, you are supposed to plant an equivalent length before removal to continue your basic payments.
We know, however, that a new hedge will take 20 to 50 years to reach the same carbon and biodiversity values. We have concerns about the level of oversight of this replanting and the quality and species diversity of what is being replanted. Hedgerow quality is a huge concern. Ms Clerkin's recent Monaghan study and another study in the south east last year found that only about 10% of hedgerows are in good condition. Excessive cutting and herbicide and fertiliser use were the main issues, as were neglect and a lack of rejuvenation. Ms Clerkin's study is devastating in its findings.
As for education and training, there are currently no hedge management certification courses running. They used to take place but there has been nothing for several years. There is, however, the excellent annual Hedgerow Week, run by Catherine Keena of Teagasc, as well as online Teagasc information.
As for Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, payments, we do not know what the final schemes will be but it looks like the recommendations of our group and several others have not been included. It was suggested that the quality and management of existing hedgerows be rewarded under both Pillar 1 and Pillar 2 schemes, giving a financial incentive for taller, wider and more productive hedges. CAP is good on new planting, and that is great, but it is missing out on an easy win in respect of our existing hedges.
As for forestry, hedgerows are effectively being lost to forestry with exotic species because the recommendations of the EPA BioForest project are not being followed in respect of minimum setback distances, which are needed to ensure that hedges are not shaded to destruction.
We have made five recommendations. The first is that legal protection for hedgerows, by either a new amendment to the Wildlife Act 1976 or new legislation, be considered. In the immediate term, the interpretation and implementation of the environmental impact assessment, EIA, regulations by the Department should be urgently reviewed. Third, the new CAP schemes should recognise and reward good hedgerow management. Fourth, hedge management courses and certification should be reintroduced. It should be a requirement that hedge-cutting contractors complete these, as with the requirements for pesticide spraying, for example. Hedgerow management deserves to be a specialty area. Finally, implementation of the EPA recommendations on setback from hedgerows in forestry should take place.
