‘Afforestation incentives need to be linked to climate change targets’

A NEED to link afforestation incentives to climate change targets in order to attract land owners and financial investors was highlighted at a meeting of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Climate Change and Energy Security.

Members were told the main obstacles to Coillte investing in forestry are high land prices and ineligibility for premiums, while the main impediment to farmers is competing land uses and long-term implications of afforestation.

Coillte, and Coford, the National Council for Forest Research and Development, appeared before the committee to discuss carbon sequestration, a key method of reducing greenhouse gas build-up.

Committee chairman Sean Barrett, TD, said limiting the loss of native trees and increasing forest sinks through plantations provide important contributions to reducing greenhouse emissions and could form an important part of our Kyoto agreement commitments.

Mr Barrett said there has been a dramatic fall-off in afforestation over the past number of years. The 1996 National Forestry Strategy provided for 20,000 hectares of new forestation per annum up to 2030.

“If achieved, these proposals would have increased forest area to 860,000 hectares by 2010 and to over 1.2 million hectares by 2030, almost doubling the area under forest in the State to 17%.

“However, forestation rates in the period 1996-2006 averaged just 12,800 hectares per annum. Over the period 2003-2006 this fell to an annual average of 9,200 hectares.

“These trends indicate that the rate of forestation coming into the 2008-2012 period will be some 35% below the National Climate Change Strategy assumption of 14,000 hectares per annum and some 55% below the National Forestry Strategy target.

“Yet again, we are first class at setting targets, but achieving them is another story. If we continue with a business as usual approach, we cannot realistically expect to achieve afforestation targets, make a contribution to reducing our greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate the effects of climate change,” he said.