Last week’s National Forestry Conference provided a forum on the role that forestry can play in the climate change mitigation debate. Uninitiated by the ad hoc committee of NEWLEAF, the conference was organised by the Society of Irish Foresters in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. Minister of State Niall Collins, set the tone of the conference in his opening address.
“Forests are central to many of the global policy challenges we face,” he said.
While the minister reassured the audience of the Governments support for the afforestation programme, the low planting rates in recent years featured strongly throughout, especially in the presentation by Alex White, chair of the Climate Change Advisory Council (CCAC).
“The council has repeatedly observed that the forestry programme is not achieving afforestation goals. Without radical change in implementation, Ireland will fail to meet both the long-standing target of 8,000ha of new forests per year and the 18% national forest cover by mid-century,” he added.
