At Green Belt we believe that Forestry is a key part of Ireland’s Climate Change Solution

FOLLOWING the government’s announcement in September that it plans to plant 440 million trees by 2040 in an effort to tackle Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions, one can now appreciate the important role forestry can play in the mitigation strategy of a small country like Ireland, who currently has one of the highest levels of emissions and one of the lowest levels of forest cover in Europe.

There are many ways Ireland could look at offsetting or reducing emissions but there are very few actions Ireland could take that sequesters and stores carbon from our atmosphere like the planting of trees.

“When someone invents a material that is renewable, reusable, organic, biodegradable, whose production cleans the air and water, sequesters carbon, creates oxygen, provides habitat for us and other species, gives us a material that is strong, light, diverse, versatile, beautiful, ubiquitous and inexpensive then I’ ll embrace it. Until then, I’ ll use wood whenever I can”!

As Ireland’s leading private forestry company, we recognise the fact that Ireland needs to get it’s future species mix or species blend correct. Ireland needs an appropriate blend of conifer and hardwood planting that reflects our need for timber, the need for habitat restoration and the requirement that our forests provide beneficial ecosystem services for society in general.

In Irelands Climate Action Plan there are ambitious goals set across numerous sectors, to help achieve our target of becoming carbon neutral by 2050. This means we need to change how we manage our limited land resource by encouraging farmers to consider greener methods of land management and encouraging them to plant more trees.

Outside of agriculture we must also look to the building sector and question it’s ongoing use of concrete.

Our dependency on concrete and steel to build everything from homes to sports stadiums, comes at a severe environmental cost. Concrete is responsible for 4-8% of the world’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.

Second only to water, it is the most widely used substance on Earth, accounting for around 85% of all mining and linked to an alarming depletion of the world’s sand.

Globally, enough concrete is poured each year to cover the whole of England, can or indeed should this be allowed to continue?

The solution lies in the fact that tree’s sequester approximately 800kg of Co2 per cubic metre of timber. When a tree is harvested this Co2 is locked away in the timber products, consider how long the timber in your roof or kitchen table is locked away?

In 2018, Irish wood-based products locked away the equivalent amount of carbon as produced by all the cars in Dublin, or all the households in Cork, Kerry and Waterford combined.

Considering the fact that new trees are planted post any felling the process of carbon capture begins all over again. This creates a continuous cycle of carbon capture and storage. If afforestation levels increase in line with the Governments ambition, government policy will have an enormously beneficial impact on our greenhouse gas emissions.

If you want to make a difference by considering forestry as a land use option please call “Green Belt” for a free consultationFreephone: 1800 200 233 or email: info@greenbelt.ie |www.greenbelt.ie