Dr. Ken Byrne:

I will respond to Deputy Bruton on that point. Professor Joosten might be better placed to respond with regard to agriculture. When we say rewetting, we need to be very clear about the context and the land use circumstances in which we are proposing it because each brings a particular set of challenges, and it is well-demonstrated for agriculture. One of the key challenges with forests is it is effectively deforestation.

When the forest is removed, it leaves branches and such material on the ground, which decay and create a source of CO2 that persists for some time, whereas other systems do not have so great a burden of biomass that is ready to decompose, and that has to be considered. How quickly that decays is crucial and, of course, methane is important.

Many of these forests, although they are on peatland, provide timber, and if we transfer that land use into rewetting, we will face the loss of that timber production or, alternatively, that timber supply will come from the rest of the forest estate or may be compensated by afforestation. We have to consider the impacts at a wider landscape level and not just locally.

I responded briefly because I am cognisant of the limited time.