Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 19 January 2022
1998. Deputy Violet-Anne Wynne asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason that the State is falling short of the target set in the Programme for Government of 8,000 hectares of trees planted per year [2070/22]
View answerThe Climate Action Plan 2021 sets an afforestation target of 8,000 hectares per year which builds on the significant amounts of afforestation carried out since the 1990s.
This target is ambitious when compared to recent afforestation rates and will be challenging to meet in the next decade. However, my Department is committed to addressing the current barriers which has resulted in low afforestation rates in the last few years.
The rate of afforestation is a function of the number of applications for licences, the rate at which these are processed and the number of licences which are ultimately converted into planting. These elements have been impacted by the complexity of the legal and administrative system, judicial decisions, the efficiency of the forestry licencing system, the appetite among landowners to convert land to afforestation usage and , in some areas, complex societal attitudes and responses to afforestation.
All of these issues have to be addressed if we are to increase afforestation rates to the necessary levels in the coming years. Project Woodland has been established as a collaborative effort to deal with these issues.
Work streams have been established to reduce the backlog in licencing, to carrying out a regulatory review to determine whether there is a better way to meet legal requirements, to examine potential efficiencies in work processes and to look at optimising capacities and identifying training needs both in my department and in the sector.
The Project is also engaged in a public consultation to develop a vision for the sector that can serve the complex needs of society and feed into a new Forestry Strategy in 2022.
Progress is being made. The overall output of licences increased by almost 60% in 2021 and supplies of timber for the processing sector have been stabilised.
A backlog of forestry licences appeals which had been a significant administrative burden and a delaying factor in many licence applications has been dealt with.
In 2022 there will be a greater focus on licences for planting. An independent regulatory review is underway, my department is, with the assistance of external expertise, examining its systems and processes, and the work to develop a vision for the sector that communicates its many benefits more effectively and contributes to a new strategy is well under way.
Of course the work to develop a strategy will include an assessment of the policy framework and the configuration of supports.
The Forestry Programme already has a wide range of generous grants and annual premiums that makes forestry an excellent land use option which can complement existing farming enterprises.
I am also proposing significant tree planting measures under the CAP Strategic Plan to build on the 1.5 million trees planted under the GLAS scheme. I also aim to facilitate small scale tree planting up to 1 hectare without the need for an afforestation licence if planted via an approved scheme.
Last year’s afforestation figures were 2,016 hectares despite over 4,000 hectares approved. There is currently over 5,000 hectares of licenced afforestation in the hands of landowners and forestry companies.
The conversion rate from licencing to planting is approximately 64 %. This low conversion rate means that a disproportionate amount of processing effort both by the Department and the sector is nugatory. Improving this conversion rate will be difficult, but should be a priority both for the sector and the Department
I am committed to working with all our stakeholders to substantially increase our afforestation rates over the next decade.
