Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 September 2023
447. Deputy Brendan Howlin asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine further to Parliamentary Question No. 2518 of 21 April 2021, if he could update the table provided to include 2021 and 2022 figures and, using the same methods as before, to calculate the CO2 missed capture due to failed afforestation targets; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41471/23]
View answerThe Forestry Programme for the period 2014 – 2020 set out afforestation targets that were consistent with the Department published “Forests, products and people Ireland’s forest policy – a renewed vision”. The table below provides annual afforestation information since 2016.
|
Year |
Target Afforestation Area (ha) |
Actual Area Afforested (ha) |
|
2016 |
6,660 |
6,500 |
|
2017 |
7,140 |
5,536 |
|
2018 |
7,205 |
4,025 |
|
2019 |
8,115 |
3,550 |
|
2020 |
8,290 |
2,434 |
|
2021 |
8,000 |
2,016 |
|
2022 |
8,000 |
2,273 |
|
Total |
53,410 |
26,335 |
Over the period 2016 – 2022, the target afforestation area was 53,410 hectares (ha). During this period 26,335 ha of lands were afforested, leaving a shortfall to target of 27,075 ha. The Department has projected that if these 27,075 ha of forests were planted with 70% conifer and 30% broadleaf, these forests had the potential to remove 10 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents per rotation, over the first and subsequent rotations. This is based on a mean annual sequestration rate of 6.9 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents per hectare for the conifer species and 2.3 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents per hectare for the broadleaf species.
Earlier this month, my Department launched the new Forest Strategy which covers the period to 2030 and aims to significantly increase the diversity and range of our forests, with the objective of contributing to biodiversity, sustainability and climate change goals. The Forest Strategy Implementation Plan, which sets out the actions to realise the ambitions in the Forest Strategy, including an annual afforestation rate of 8,000ha to 2027.
