Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 7 December 2023
285. Deputy Richard O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the definition of deforestation; the area of land deforested annually over the past ten years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54326/23]
View answerThe Forestry Act 2014 provides the main legal and regulatory framework for forestry in Ireland. The Forestry Act 2014 defines deforestation as the conversion of a forest into land that is not a forest. The regulation of forestry is necessary in order to protect forests and also to ensure that forestry operations and activities are carried out in compliance with the principles of sustainable forest management (SFM). There is an obvious need to avoid deforestation in relation to economic and social considerations and environmental considerations such as carbon, landscape and amenity.
My Department published a Felling and Reforestation Policy document in 2017 outlining the scenarios where forests can be permanently removed under licence. Examples of this include supporting renewable energy projects such as wind farms or where there are overriding environmental considerations. The EU Deforestation Regulation is also aimed at preventing the placement of certain commodities on the EU market from deforested areas.
As part of Ireland’s reporting obligations to the United Convention on Climate Change, the annual National Inventory Report details the following information as regards annual deforestation in Ireland over the last ten years. This information is derived from the National Forest Inventory, which is a detailed periodic survey of permanent forest sample plots based on a sample grid design of 2 kilometres x 2 kilometres. These figures in the table below are estimates based on the NFI plot data and are scaled up nationally and are indicative.
|
Year |
Deforestation area (hectares) |
|
2013 |
1,600 |
|
2014 |
400 |
|
2015 |
800 |
|
2016 |
1,200 |
|
2017 |
400 |
|
2018 |
1,200 |
|
2019 |
400 |
|
2020 |
800 |
|
2021 |
0 |
|
2022 |
181 |
