Holly Cairns
Question:3402. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the status of the National Hedgerow Survey. [40177/21]
View answerTuesday, 27 July 2021
Questions (3402)
Written answers
In 2019, it was estimated that the hedgerow length in Ireland was 689,000 Km. This was based on a Research Funded Project (2014-2020), 'the Biomass Retrieval in Ireland using Active Remote (BRIAR) sensing project', produced by Teagasc.
In line with the commitment in Programme for Government, actions by my Department include the forthcoming pilot 'Farm Environmental Survey' (FES) which aims to capture the habitats and biodiversity potential already present on our farms, including our hedgerow networks. The recently launched 'REAP' scheme will include assessment of hedgerow habitat quality on the pilot farms also.
In addition to these actions, a national land cover map of habitats being developed by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Ordnance Survey Ireland, with contributions from various Government agencies including this Department, will be concluded this year. The results and long-term implementation of these initiatives are hoped to provide great strides in gathering data on our hedgerow habitats and more. Efforts such as these will be essential in establishing our biodiversity baseline on farms which can benefit the farmer and the environment.