The rate at which forestry is being planted remains “far from” Ireland’s annual target, according to the Social, Economic and Environmental Forestry Association of Ireland (SEEFA).
The latest forestry dashboard data, published by the department, shows that just 1,024ha of forestry has been planted so far this year.
There was just 27ha planted last week, while the government has set an annual target of 8,000ha of new forests to be planted in order to increase the national forestry area to 18%.
SEEFA stated that the rates are “alarmingly low”, and that the country is “far from the pace required to reach even a fraction” of the annual planting target.
Forestry
“At current planting rates, Ireland risks falling off a carbon cliff, where the forest estate will transition from a carbon sink to a carbon source by 2050,” SEEFA stated.
Last week, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) issued 18 afforestation licences for 153ha last week.
SEEFA stated that while the department reached its weekly afforestation licensing target pace, it continues to highlight “inconsistency”, with many weeks falling short of even 10% of the target.
“It raises questions about the ongoing pattern of poor results before and after these occasional successes,” SEEFA stated.
Some 448 valid afforestation applications have been submitted to the department so far this year.
Felling and schemes
The department has issued a total of 686 licences for felling on private plantations and 603 permits for felling on Coillte sites so far this year.
There were 24 licences issued last week for forestry roads, bringing the overall total to 600 licences issued by August 23.
An additional 11 licences were granted for the Reconstitution of Ash Dieback Scheme bringing the total so far this year to 553 licences for 1,991ha.
There has been 278 licences issued for the NTAS (304ha) since the programme commenced, and 131 for the Woodland Improvement Scheme (WIS) covering 746ha.