Eamon Ryan
Ceist:53. Deputy Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his plans in relation to forestry in the context of the new European climate and energy plan under preparation. [23800/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraWednesday, 30 May 2018
Ceisteanna (53)
Freagraí scríofa
When sustainably managed, forests have the additional and significant benefit of being a permanent store or reservoir of carbon over the long term and provide wood products that can substitute more energy intensive materials. The National Inventory Report 2017 to the UNFCCC shows that in 2015 Irish forests and wood products sequestered 4.3 Million Tonnes of CO2 equivalent.
Under the now agreed Effort Sharing Regulation, forests and other land-uses must be accounted and, in Ireland’s case, up to 26.8 MT CO2 eq of greenhouse gas removals can be accounted against our national non-ETS targets during the 2020 to 2030 period. This figure is based on 15% of average agriculture emissions in 2008-2012 in recognition of the limited mitigation potential in agriculture. Afforestation is measured as the greenhouse gas change in forests less than 20 or 30 years of age. Thus the mitigation benefits of current afforestation in terms of national targets can last for a considerable time.
Wood harvested from forests is itself a long term, renewable carbon pool and can produce sustainable materials that can substitute more emissions-intensive non-renewable materials and fossil fuels. With regard to forest based biomass almost 1.6 million cubic metres of this material was used for energy purposes in 2016. Domestically produced biomass was the primary source of this material and abated 761,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions from fossil fuels. My Department’s strategy is to fully exploit the potential of forestry in relation to climate change mitigation. I have made sure to place at the core of this strategy ongoing support for a sustainable afforestation programme.
My Department's action plan for forestry is set out in the Forestry Programme 2014 -2020 which represents almost €500 million in development funding for the sector. During the period 2015 – 2017 over 18,000 hectares of new forests have been established. A midterm review of the programme was finalised earlier this year and new measures were put in place to drive further planting. Increased planting rates were introduced, with a particular focus on broadleaf species.
Andrew Doyle T.D. Minister of State in my Department with responsibility for forestry, has recently established a Forestry Implementation Group comprising stakeholders from the forestry sector, landowners and environmental NGOs to help drive implementation of the Afforestation Programme to 2020.
Finally, a publicly funded capital programme for afforestation beyond the lifetime of the current Forestry Programme 2014-2020 is provided for under the National Development Plan 2018-2027 thus demonstrating this Government's ongoing commitment to forestry as a key element of our climate change mitigation strategy.