Mr. Niall ? Brolch?in:

I thank the Chair and members for the invitation to appear before the committee. I am a research associate with the Insight SFI Research Centre for Data Analytics - that is a mouthful - and a lecturer at the University of Galway, as we now call ourselves. I specialise in evidence-based policy in the area of nature based solutions. I am currently the policy lead for the following EU projects: EU INTERREG Care-Peat; EU INTERREG STEPS; EU LIFE Multi Peat; and EU Horizon 2020 Green Deal WaterLANDS. I acknowledge colleagues from WaterLANDS, Dr. Shane McGuinness and Dr. Sam Kessler, who are in the Public Gallery.

The Taoiseach was recently at the COP27 summit and called for a new era of stewardship of our natural world. He also said that biodiversity loss will only be successfully tackled as an all-of-government and all-of-society project. I hope to expand on that later. He pointed out that if this generation does not step up urgently, future generations will not forgive us. The population of the planet exceeded 8 billion people at approximately 8 o'clock this morning, so we have a lot of work on our hands. He also pointed out that Ireland is now on a legally binding path to net-zero emissions no later than 2050 and to a 51% reduction in emissions by 2030. This is good advice. It is clear that to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement some hard political decisions have already been made with many more to follow. The goal of net-zero emissions by 2050 in Ireland is achievable but only if there is a collaborative political and societal will to get there.

My main area of expertise is in policy relating to peatlands, primarily at EU level. However, I have a strong interest in how this relates to Ireland specifically. A group of leading peatland scientists in Ireland, who I and colleagues in Trinity College brought together, conservatively estimated that CO2 emissions from degraded and drained peatlands in Ireland equate to around 10 million tonnes annually, which is an enormous amount of emissions compared to 62 million tonnes which are roughly the national emissions. This is equivalent to the weight of every man, woman and child in the country being emitted every two weeks.

Globally, peatland emissions amount to approximately 5% of the total. This is more than for air travel and shipping combined. The figure could technically be reduced to net zero by 2030 by restoration and rewetting if there was a political will to do so, but currently there clearly is not on a global level. I hope it is getting there in Ireland. In Ireland our emissions from degraded peatlands are at least double that of the global figure. If the burning of peat is added to that, the figure is considerably higher again.

In terms of peatland policy, our Care-Peat stakeholder survey in Ireland, which was comprehensive and included many stakeholders, listed the following priorities: to develop a national carbon credits framework; to update the national peatlands strategy from 2015 - that is being done at the moment; to enhance knowledge about peatlands in Ireland; to support organisations and communities associated with peatlands financially; to enforce environmental protection regulations in relation to peatlands; and to fast-track greenhouse gas, GHG emissions reductions in relation to LULUCF and peatlands in particular.

I urge the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action to immediately consider some measures. The first is to conduct a comprehensive national baseline study of GHG emissions in Ireland. I welcome the earlier statement in relation to the eddy covariance flux towers, which Teagasc is putting in place. Second, I urge the committee to support a national framework for the regulation of voluntary carbon credits considered best practice across Europe and not just from the UK. We must look at best practice from across Europe. This is vital. One academic has described what is happening at the moment as the "wild west". The third is to support carbon farming and paludiculture, which is wetland farming, through the Common Agriculture Policy and otherwise. There are great opportunities there. The fourth is to conduct a full review of the Arterial Drainage Act 1945 and consider bringing in measures to remove unnecessary drainage that is causing significant GHG emissions on peatlands and wetlands.

According to the latest research there is a linear relationship between average annual water level and GHG emissions. Professor Hans Joosten, who is probably the world's leading expert on peatlands, pointed out that since Indonesia had enormous problems with fires, it has, by legal prescription, raised the water level on almost 4 million ha.

I will not read everything in the opening statement but needless to say they estimate that as a result of the raising of water levels, the annual emissions reduction is 272 Mt, which is 272 million tonnes, per annum of CO2 equivalent in Indonesia. If we look at those measures, there is a lot that can be achieved.

We had a seminar in Brussels two or three weeks ago and I would urge the committee to support the targets of the European Commission in relation to the nature restoration law. It was flagged to me that Ireland is dragging its feet a little. They are currently going through the European Parliament.

The four key measures the WaterLANDS project put in its submission were: that rewetting is a prerequisite of peatland restoration; the proposed targets are insufficient and should be increased significantly in line with the Paris Agreement as at the moment they are not in line with the Paris Agreement and various countries are looking to water those down; the scope of the target is expanded to all non-residential land use on drained peatland; and a mandatory monitoring for peatlands restoration is set in Article 17 of the nature restoration law as at the moment for some reason the nature restoration law includes mandatory monitoring of peatlands and it should not.