The recent report by Professor Cathal O’Donoghue, University of Galway, on afforestation and management is the third study on the role of forestry in climate change mitigation in recent years. The annual planting targets proposed by Prof O’Donoghue, Dr David Styles and COFORD (between 16,000ha and 20,000ha) to achieve net zero by 2050 are, by any metric, enormous, especially when compared with the recent programmes of little over 2,000ha.

The debate now is no longer on the scale of planting required, but on how it will be delivered and how the resource is managed from nursery production to timber processing, wood use and reuse. The Climate Action Plan has identified afforestation as a crucial land use, along with wood as a key material in displacing fossil-based materials.

The most recent report by the Project Woodland board (Interim Report No. 4) states: “The Project Board will make recommendations on the transition to the new Forestry Programme 2023 and the appropriate implementation strategy.”

The debate now is no longer on the scale of planting required, but on how it will be delivered and how the resource is managed

This is a major role undertaken by Project Board members who will depend on a united national effort to implement the most challenging forestry programme in the history of the State.

They will depend on stakeholders including farmers and other landowners, foresters and forestry companies, contractors, timber processors, nurseries and investors, as well as support from universities, research organisations and forestry groups that promote forestry. Yet, not one of those stakeholders is represented on the Project Woodland Board. This approach represents the status quo.

The 42 stakeholders, listed on page 51, like Prof O’Donoghue, are convinced that a business as usual approach will not achieve a viable forestry programme. They believe that a Forestry Development Agency is now needed to build an innovative and sustainable forest­ry and forest products sector that is representative of all relevant stakeholders.