A new, simplified and efficient system must be developed to issue forestry licences in Ireland, according to Fianna Fáil TD, Jackie Cahill. The Tipperary TD believes that this would play an integral role in fighting climate change and reducing carbon emissions, particularly in light of the country’s current forestry crisis. Source: Agriland (Ireland)
This crisis has, he said, resulted in failure to meet afforestation targets and to further reduce the country’s ability to sequester carbon for decades to come.
He made his comments following the publication of the highly anticipated report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
“The bureaucracy that’s crippling our forestry sector has to be dismantled,” he said.
“Why, when you want to change land use for forestry, you have to get a licence is beyond me,” he said.
“When you are changing from dairy to beef, or beef to tillage, you do not have to get a licence, but you do have to when you are changing land use to forestry. That is just wrong,” he said.
“If a landowner decides to plant their land, they have to get a licence for afforestation and then a separate one for thinning, a separate one for roads, and a separate one clear felling.”
This, he said, is strangling the sector at every turn.
“We have set targets for levels of afforestation in Programmes for Government over the last number of years, and in the last three years alone, the failures to meet targets have resulted in a loss of 75 million tonnes of carbon being sequestered during the lifetime of the plantations that should have been planted.
“We have 220,000 hectares of unenclosed land that is not designated for planting here in Ireland. We even have blanket bans on those lands for planting. That’s ridiculous.”
He said there is clear scientific evidence to show that different stages of afforestation can enhance the development of habitats for different species in designated areas.
“We need to immediately look at the premium payments for forestry to attract farmers back to this sector. If forestry is going to play the strategic role that it must in our battle against climate change and the reduction of emissions, the bureaucracy that is destroying this sector has to be dismantled immediately.
“The Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine, which I chair, have had numerous meetings on the forestry sector since last September. We have issued recommendations to the minister with responsibility for this area but unfortunately the forestry sector is still immersed in the mire of bureaucracy.”
