New trees plan not enough, insist environmentalists
ENVIRONMENTALISTS have said that a plan to plant 32 native or broadleaf forests across Northern Ireland does not go far enough.
A forestation plan by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) will see seven new native woodlands, 25 broadleaf forests and 23 conifer forests planted.
Broadleaf trees include oak, ash, birch, hazel and maple — most of which are native to Ireland.
The biggest planting sites will be at Kilkeel, Co Down, where 40 hectares of broad leaf trees are planned, followed by a 16-hectare site at Dromara, Co Down, which will be planted again with broadleaf trees and then 12 hectares of land at Moy, Co Tyrone, will be planted with conifer trees.
All other sites across all six counties will be between five and nine hectares with the seven native woodland sites accounting for less than 50 hectares.
Northern Ireland has the least amount of woodland in the EU with just 8% cover, but to reach the 16% that the EU recommends, 30,000 hectares should really be the target, according to
James Orr, NI director of Friends of the Earth.
He said: “The department’s own strategy is to double tree cover by 2025 and it is never going to meet that target by planting under 400 hectares.
“We have an urgent need to address the climate crisis and the environmental crisis and continuing to plant conifer trees is an environmental disaster.
“Conifers do nothing to address climate change, nothing to help our rivers and nothing to help the wildlife populations.
“Native trees have been proven to be best for stripping out greenhouse gases and while there is a certain amount of carbon absorption by confers it is negligible in terms of what broadleafs will do.
“In terms of the impact of confers on native birds and other wildlife species and the impact on water quality — the policy has to shift towards other kinds of plantations.
“It is wonderful to see broadleaf trees being planted but if we are ever to reach the target of 16% cover, we should be planting not under 400 hectares but 30,000 hectares.
“The amount the department is planning to plant is a drop in the ocean to what is needed.”
No one was available from DAERA.