Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 18 May 2023
413. Deputy Sean Sherlock asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the amount of carbon dioxide his Department have failed to capture due to missing afforestation targets during the lifetime of the last forestry programme 2015-2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23934/23]
View answerMy Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine does not engage in afforestation. This is a voluntary activity by private landowners, supported by the Government. The national forest estate is expanding and has reached 11.6% of total land area. The total land area has increased from 697,842 hectares in 2006 to 808,848 hectares in 2022. as verified in the National Forest Inventory. The increase is due to both grant aided afforestation and natural regeneration.
Over the period 2015-22, the target afforestation area was 59,410 ha. During this period 32,628 ha of lands were afforested under the schemes in the Forestry programme. An estimated 22,834 ha of new forest were created from natural regeneration. It is important to remember that the schemes are demand-led and the volume of applications in the latter years of the programme have been lower than expected.
In calculating sequestration from planted forests a mean annual sequestration rate of 6.9 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents per hectare for the conifer species is used and 2.3 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents per hectare for planted broadleaf forests.
Ireland’s forests and harvested wood products play a significant role in climate change mitigation by removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. Carbon sequestration by forests is influenced by a range of factors including species, soil type, site conditions and management practices. When forests are young the sequestration rate is low but as the trees mature their ability to sequester carbon dioxide increases.
My Department proactively assists and supports the development of Irish forestry through the national forestry programme, with some €74 million of expenditure in 2022. There has been a significant increase in the premiums available and the duration of premiums has increased from 15 years to 20 years in the proposed new Forestry Programme. Last year, my Department issued licences for almost 5,000 hectares of land to be planted.
As a result of the enhanced grants and premiums I am very hopeful that planting rates will increase over the coming years. The Department will also support promotional initiatives which will encourage landowners to consider forestry as a viable use of land. There are many land-use options available and forestry will be a strong option for many landowners.
