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Stakeholder consultation on discussion document on GHG mitigation potential within the agriculture and forest sector
Portlaoise 15 May 2015
Eugene HendrickForest Sector Development DivisionDepartment of Agriculture, Food and Marine
Forests, products and people - Irelands forest policy – a renewed vision (June 2014) – available at www.agriculture.gov.ie
Strategic goal
To develop an internationally competitive and sustainable forest sector that provides a full range of economic, environmental and social benefits to society and which accords which accords with the Forest Europe definition of sustainable forest management
Forest Policy
The main mitigation options within Agriculture Forestry and other land uses – AFOLU - involve one or more of three strategies:
reduction / prevention of emissions to the atmosphere by conserving existing carbon pools in soils or vegetation that would otherwise be lost ...
sequestration — enhancing the uptake of carbon in terrestrial reservoirs, and thereby removing CO2 from the atmosphere and
reducing CO2 emissions by substitution of biological products for fossil fuels or energy-intensive products
Forests and climate change mitigation (IPCC Fifth Assessment Report – Chapter 11)
Forest sector
Ireland’s forest area: 738,000 ha (2013) or ca 11% of the land area
Since 1990, 300,000 ha of new forest have been established
The target is to increase the area under forest from 11% to 18% by 2046
Programme Year 2015-2020
Scheme Type 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 Target
Afforestation 5,440 5,990 6,165 6,215 6,615 6,790 37,215
NWS Establishment 450 450 450 450 450 450 2,700
Agro Forestry 10 20 25 40 50 50 195
Forestry for Fibre 100 200 500 500 1,000 1,000 3,300
Total 43,410
Ireland Forestry Programme 2014-2020
http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/forestservice/forestryprogrammes2014-2020/
The total carbon reservoir or store in Irish forests currently exceeds one billion tonnes of carbon dioxide, most of which is in the soil. (National Forest Inventory 2013)
For Kyoto 1 compliance, 2008-2012 the net contribution from afforestation, reforestation and deforestation - ARD – was: 17.9 Mt (AR) – 1.6 Mt (D) =16.3 Mt CO2 (3.3 Mt CO2 per year)
For Kyoto II (2013-2020) the net sink contribution of ARD is forecast to be 3.8 Mt CO2 per year – which includes harvested wood products
Carbon store and sink in Irish forests
Forests and forests products enable more ambitious mitigation in the land use sector
A key part of fossil decarbonisation to mid century and beyond
As forest cover reaches 15-18% by mid-century the mitigation role of forest-based biomass and wood products is likely to increase relative to sequestration
Forest establishment and forest products a part of a long term land use vision
Future Mitigation While afforestation levels proposed under the new
programme will have little effect on the levels of carbon sequestered in the short term because forests grow relatively slowly as they establish themselves over the first five years or so, these forests will make a substantial contribution to climate change mitigation in the longer term. A planting programme of 10,000 ha will also support a sustainable harvest of 7-8 million m3 roundwood per annum into the future and consequently a sustainable contribution to climate mitigation over the long term.