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The role forestry will play in halving greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030 and reaching net zero by 2050 is acknowledged in the Government’s Climate Action Plan. It identifies afforestation as the largest land-based climate change mitigation measure available. The role of sustainable timber production is also recognised in displacing fossil-based material, especially in construction. Add in biodiversity, recreation, social and other non-wood functions and the benefits of achieving a sustainable forestry programme become even more obvious for the wider agricultural sector and rural economy.
With the ability to produce yields three times higher than the EU average, the forestry sector offers the potential to significantly increase income on Irish farms. And with less than one third of European average forestry cover, this can be achieved without affecting food security.
Incredulous
Against this backdrop, it is incredulous that the rate of afforestation has been in decline since 2005. This was recognised in 2006 when a group of forestry stakeholders proposed the establishment of an independent Forestry Development Agency (FDA), arguing that forestry was the only natural resource without such a body.
By 2008, when afforestation had fallen to 6,249ha, compared with 14,735ha six years previously, a report commissioned by the Department of Agriculture acknowledged the perilous state of the planting programme. One of its objectives was to make recommendations as to how afforestation rates could be increased to an annual level of at least 10,000ha by 2010. Instead of achieving 10,000ha by 2010, afforestation went into freefall from 8,314ha that year to 2,434ha in 2020, while in the same period the farmer share of the annual programme collapsed from 7,935ha to 579ha.
The forestry licence debacle has contributed to the decline in planting, but afforestation – by farmers in particular – pre-dates this crisis. Farmers have been walking away from forestry over the past decade for a number of reasons.
The decision to convert marginal land to forestry is a major land use decision by farmers that has been underestimated. Instead of making this decision easier, an increasingly cumbersome licensing system, which can take up to two years, has greatly inhibited the planting programme.
Other issues have contributed, such as the replanting obligation and a reduction of the annual premium period from 20 to 15 years in the 2015-2020 afforestation programme. The reduction of the premium period has proved totally inadequate, especially for broadleaves and native species with rotation lengths of 60-120 years.
Land availability, which shouldn’t be a problem in Ireland, has been an issue, especially since 2012 when the Department introduced “the 20% rule”. This limits afforestation of productive unenclosed land to 20% of the total area planted in any one application. As a result, less than 5% of all land planted is on unenclosed land.
Some of this land has been correctly removed for environmental reasons but foresters and farmers are finding it increasingly difficult to gain licences to plant 280,000ha of excellent marginal agricultural land suitable for forestry.The virtual banning of unenclosed land by the Department has coincided with the dramatic decline in afforestation in Cork, Kerry, Limerick and parts of Tipperary, and the resultant concentration of planting in Leitrim, Roscommon, Sligo and Cavan where unenclosed land is not a major issue.
New thinking required
It is now clear that the obstacles facing forestry both at the planting and production phase will not be overcome by a business as usual approach. The establishment of an independent FDA would be the first step in achieving a balanced forestry programme. It would begin by producing a programme tailored to meet the needs of farmers who wish to plant some of their farms. It would acknowledge that a farmer who can convert land from barley to beef within months is not going to wait around for years to change land use to forestry, with no option of changing back if things don’t work out. It would ensure that forest owners would not have to undergo multiple licence applications. It would include a planting scheme that would leverage the carbon value sequestered by forests and use this carbon value to reward and incentivise farmers and landowners to undertake afforestation.
A critical first step would be to establish a Forest Carbon Code in Ireland along the lines of the Woodland Carbon Code in the UK but adapted to meet Irish needs and demographics. As detailed in this week's edition, the FDA would create targets for the sector, including timber production, time-scales for licence approval and an annual afforestation target. COFORD, the Department’s own advisory forest research body, recommends planting “to a level approaching 16,000ha per year” to help Ireland achieve net zero. Delivering this, in partnership with the forestry sector, would be the greatest challenge facing the FDA.
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