The recent national forestry conference in Johnstown House Hotel, Enfield, discussed a wide range of non-wood issues from recreation to regulation and carbon sequestration to water services.
Despite the wide range of non-wood services and products available to growers, the open forum repeatedly returned to sustainable wood production and a viable afforestation programme after almost two decades of underperformance and a dramatic fall in planting during the past five years.
Achieving balance between non-wood and commercial forest objectives was explored by Minister of State Pippa Hackett in her keynote address.
“The new forestry programme will provide opportunities to improve Ireland’s natural heritage in a way that is sensitive to its landscape and environment, and that allows citizens to benefit from the unique range of public and private goods offered by it,” she said.
She also addressed commercial forestry. “For landowners, an economic return is clearly important and such a return has to be linked to delivering on sustainable forestry,” she said. “Forestry needs to be economically attractive and viable if we are to achieve our ambitious targets for increased afforestation.”
The conference addressed stakeholder involvement in forestry planning but the emphasis was on growers – public and private – who will carry out the planting programme of the scale envisaged in a recent COFORD study and by Prof Cathal O’Donogue, established chair, social and public policy, at University of Galway (UG).
Carbon
Carbon is now a major non-wood objective as both studies maintain that up to 18,000ha of annual afforestation is required, if Irish agriculture in particular is to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
Who carries out a programme of this magnitude? Dr Olive Leavy, national co-ordinator of the Irish Forest Owners (IFO) and a forest owner, maintained that a viable afforestation programme would only be achieved by “placing forest owners at the centre of the national conversation, to develop a robust programme of engagement, support and education, and provide them with an economically viable model of forestry that supports its benefits to society”.
Eamonn Kenny, Coillte.
The conference heard from Eamonn Kenny, director of forest operations, Coillte, who outlined the State company’s commitment “to a 100,000ha afforestation by 2050, divided equally between commercial forestry and native woodland, that will sink 18m t of CO2”.
A programme of this scale will yield an average annual afforestation programme of 3,500ha, which is impressive compared with recent annual planting of 2,000ha, but well below targets required as outlined by Prof O’Donoghue.
Carbon sequestration was at the centre of Prof O’Donoghue’s conference paper, “Carbon-based forestry: acknowledging forest owners for their contribution to net zero.” The paper was based on a recent UG study which found that “if afforestation target had been met over the past decade “it would have allowed for carbon neutral dairy expansion”.
Prof O’Donoghue spelled out the planting targets needed. “If Department policy is to achieve 18% forest cover by 2046 – which is consistent with achieving carbon neutral agriculture and land use by 2050 – then an 18,000ha annual afforestation programme is required,” he said.
Colm Hayes, assistant secretary general at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, also addressed the issue of carbon trading and its future potential.
“Forest owners can partake in opportunities to trade carbon on voluntary markets, while the EU will provide a regulatory framework for the certification of carbon removals towards the end of 2022,” he said.
“The Department will examine the EU framework and plan to hold expert round table discussions shortly in 2022-23 to explore the development of a national carbon code. There are examples in the EU where voluntary trading of forest carbon takes place and the Department is keen to explore how landowners can financially benefit.”
A number of conference attendees believed Ireland was far too slow in delivering a national carbon code compared with the UK where the government-backed Woodland Carbon Code was established 11 years ago.
“There is no reason why a forest carbon code (FCC) couldn’t be established in Ireland to provide quality-assurance standard for planting projects ensuring they are verifiable, additional and permanent,” said Brendan Lacey, chair of the Irish Timber Growers Association.
“Such units could then be sold to companies and others who wish to show that they are mitigating their carbon emissions through voluntary carbon offsets.”
Minister of State Pippa Hackett, keynote speaker at the national forestry conference recently in Enfield organised by the Society of Irish Foresters (SIF) with participants Marina Conway, Western Forestry Co-op and Dr. Olive Leavy, IFO, (front row). Behind (left to right): Brendan Lacey, ITGA, Matt Dempsey, conference chair; Hugh Cawley, SIF president); Prof Cathal O'Donogue, UG, Donal Magner, conference co-ordinator; and Colm Hayes, assistant secretary DAFM. \ Eoin O'Driscoll, drima marketing
In keeping with the EU Forest Strategy, Lacey explained that “private initiatives could finance carbon farming schemes through the generation of carbon certificates that can be traded in the markets”.
A number of conference attendees, including speakers Lacey and Prof O’Donoghue, called for an independent State forestry development agency to promote and develop the sector.
Brendan Lacey compared Irish forest regulation to the Venus flytrap, the carnivorous plant which traps insects.
Once the land is planted, in addition to the replanting obligation “the forest owner is caught in a regulatory ‘flytrap’ with entitlement to generate income potentially ceded to a regulator,” he told the conference.
“As a result, the potential to optimise timber harvest, carbon rights and many other ecosystem services is reduced.”
Colm Hayes said forestry requires a social licence in which to operate and needs continued support from society, citizens and stakeholders to operate. “It needs compliance with the EU and national regulatory framework [and] a licensing system that ensures good forest practice, legal compliance and protection of the environment”.
While Colm Hayes wasn’t in a position to provide details on supports in the upcoming forestry programme, Lacey reminded the audience that grants are provided as an incentive to attract landowners to plant, which should be borne in mind when discussing the new programme. “Grants are not a source of income and where premium payments exist they are shortlived in the context of the certification role and longevity of the forest,” he said.
Dr Tom Nisbet, head of physical environment research with the Forestry Commission, examined the role of water in woodlands in his paper “Water services – protecting water quality, shade provision and flood regulation”.
“As a result of the success of sustainable forest management in protecting the water environment, attention is increasingly turning to the water benefits provided by trees, woodlands and forests in the UK,” he said.
“These include the ability of tree cover to preserve water quality, help protect aquatic habitats and species from climate warming and reduce the risk of downstream flooding.”
He said pollutant inputs are much lower in woodland compared to agriculture but added that “water benefits are dependent on good forest design and management”.
Ireland could benefit from his programme “to develop a Woodland Water Code to encourage greater private investment in tree planting to improve the water environment”.
The recent national forestry conference in Johnstown House Hotel, Enfield, discussed a wide range of non-wood issues from recreation to regulation and carbon sequestration to water services.
Despite the wide range of non-wood services and products available to growers, the open forum repeatedly returned to sustainable wood production and a viable afforestation programme after almost two decades of underperformance and a dramatic fall in planting during the past five years.
Achieving balance between non-wood and commercial forest objectives was explored by Minister of State Pippa Hackett in her keynote address.
“The new forestry programme will provide opportunities to improve Ireland’s natural heritage in a way that is sensitive to its landscape and environment, and that allows citizens to benefit from the unique range of public and private goods offered by it,” she said.
She also addressed commercial forestry. “For landowners, an economic return is clearly important and such a return has to be linked to delivering on sustainable forestry,” she said. “Forestry needs to be economically attractive and viable if we are to achieve our ambitious targets for increased afforestation.”
The conference addressed stakeholder involvement in forestry planning but the emphasis was on growers – public and private – who will carry out the planting programme of the scale envisaged in a recent COFORD study and by Prof Cathal O’Donogue, established chair, social and public policy, at University of Galway (UG).
Carbon
Carbon is now a major non-wood objective as both studies maintain that up to 18,000ha of annual afforestation is required, if Irish agriculture in particular is to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
Who carries out a programme of this magnitude? Dr Olive Leavy, national co-ordinator of the Irish Forest Owners (IFO) and a forest owner, maintained that a viable afforestation programme would only be achieved by “placing forest owners at the centre of the national conversation, to develop a robust programme of engagement, support and education, and provide them with an economically viable model of forestry that supports its benefits to society”.
Eamonn Kenny, Coillte.
The conference heard from Eamonn Kenny, director of forest operations, Coillte, who outlined the State company’s commitment “to a 100,000ha afforestation by 2050, divided equally between commercial forestry and native woodland, that will sink 18m t of CO2”.
A programme of this scale will yield an average annual afforestation programme of 3,500ha, which is impressive compared with recent annual planting of 2,000ha, but well below targets required as outlined by Prof O’Donoghue.
Carbon sequestration was at the centre of Prof O’Donoghue’s conference paper, “Carbon-based forestry: acknowledging forest owners for their contribution to net zero.” The paper was based on a recent UG study which found that “if afforestation target had been met over the past decade “it would have allowed for carbon neutral dairy expansion”.
Prof O’Donoghue spelled out the planting targets needed. “If Department policy is to achieve 18% forest cover by 2046 – which is consistent with achieving carbon neutral agriculture and land use by 2050 – then an 18,000ha annual afforestation programme is required,” he said.
Colm Hayes, assistant secretary general at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, also addressed the issue of carbon trading and its future potential.
“Forest owners can partake in opportunities to trade carbon on voluntary markets, while the EU will provide a regulatory framework for the certification of carbon removals towards the end of 2022,” he said.
“The Department will examine the EU framework and plan to hold expert round table discussions shortly in 2022-23 to explore the development of a national carbon code. There are examples in the EU where voluntary trading of forest carbon takes place and the Department is keen to explore how landowners can financially benefit.”
A number of conference attendees believed Ireland was far too slow in delivering a national carbon code compared with the UK where the government-backed Woodland Carbon Code was established 11 years ago.
“There is no reason why a forest carbon code (FCC) couldn’t be established in Ireland to provide quality-assurance standard for planting projects ensuring they are verifiable, additional and permanent,” said Brendan Lacey, chair of the Irish Timber Growers Association.
“Such units could then be sold to companies and others who wish to show that they are mitigating their carbon emissions through voluntary carbon offsets.”
Minister of State Pippa Hackett, keynote speaker at the national forestry conference recently in Enfield organised by the Society of Irish Foresters (SIF) with participants Marina Conway, Western Forestry Co-op and Dr. Olive Leavy, IFO, (front row). Behind (left to right): Brendan Lacey, ITGA, Matt Dempsey, conference chair; Hugh Cawley, SIF president); Prof Cathal O'Donogue, UG, Donal Magner, conference co-ordinator; and Colm Hayes, assistant secretary DAFM. \ Eoin O'Driscoll, drima marketing
In keeping with the EU Forest Strategy, Lacey explained that “private initiatives could finance carbon farming schemes through the generation of carbon certificates that can be traded in the markets”.
A number of conference attendees, including speakers Lacey and Prof O’Donoghue, called for an independent State forestry development agency to promote and develop the sector.
Brendan Lacey compared Irish forest regulation to the Venus flytrap, the carnivorous plant which traps insects.
Once the land is planted, in addition to the replanting obligation “the forest owner is caught in a regulatory ‘flytrap’ with entitlement to generate income potentially ceded to a regulator,” he told the conference.
“As a result, the potential to optimise timber harvest, carbon rights and many other ecosystem services is reduced.”
Colm Hayes said forestry requires a social licence in which to operate and needs continued support from society, citizens and stakeholders to operate. “It needs compliance with the EU and national regulatory framework [and] a licensing system that ensures good forest practice, legal compliance and protection of the environment”.
While Colm Hayes wasn’t in a position to provide details on supports in the upcoming forestry programme, Lacey reminded the audience that grants are provided as an incentive to attract landowners to plant, which should be borne in mind when discussing the new programme. “Grants are not a source of income and where premium payments exist they are shortlived in the context of the certification role and longevity of the forest,” he said.
Dr Tom Nisbet, head of physical environment research with the Forestry Commission, examined the role of water in woodlands in his paper “Water services – protecting water quality, shade provision and flood regulation”.
“As a result of the success of sustainable forest management in protecting the water environment, attention is increasingly turning to the water benefits provided by trees, woodlands and forests in the UK,” he said.
“These include the ability of tree cover to preserve water quality, help protect aquatic habitats and species from climate warming and reduce the risk of downstream flooding.”
He said pollutant inputs are much lower in woodland compared to agriculture but added that “water benefits are dependent on good forest design and management”.
Ireland could benefit from his programme “to develop a Woodland Water Code to encourage greater private investment in tree planting to improve the water environment”.
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