Pippa Hackett (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Smith for the question. It is an important aspect and something many people want to understand. The Deputy will probably be aware that the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, is responsible for the reporting of emissions and removals associated with land use activities on an annual basis to the EU and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, UNFCCC. Hedgerows are currently accounted for under the grassland heading of the inventory. However, my Department is undertaking much work to improve reporting of the land use, land use change and forestry, LULUCF, inventory.

On-farm carbon sequestration, particularly through our soils, trees and hedgerows, can make a significant contribution to the continued viability and sustainability of the agrifood sector. Therefore, I believe it is essential that all on-farm sequestration is accurately reflected in the national inventory. To that end, there are several initiatives ongoing at present which aim to reach that objective.  Teagasc, in conjunction with FERS Limited, has recently completed research to help to improve the national estimation of hedgerow carbon sequestration in an EPA-funded project called Farm-Carbon. This looked at a number of objectives, including quantifying the carbon stock of biomass, developing biomass functions based on volume measurements, developing a model to incorporate the land use of mitigation potential associated with hedgerows and, quite importantly, developing an integrated scorecard for assessment along the best management practices for carbon and other ecosystem services. The research found, not surprisingly, that increasing hedge width and height can substantially increase both above- and below-ground carbon sequestration while also enhancing biodiversity. It is also clear that all hedges are not equal when it comes to sequestration.

Within the Teagasc Signpost farms programme, the soil organic carbon baseline levels are currently being measured across 100 Signpost farms, with these soils being resampled regularly. Teagasc research, using projects such as the National Agricultural Soil Carbon Observatory and the Signpost farms, aims to improve the measurement of carbon sequestration and focuses on improving estimation of carbon sequestration in hedgerows and on farm woodland. I am confident that, in addition to the research mentioned above, and with improvements being made in hedgerow mapping, the EPA will shortly have sufficient data to better reflect hedgerow carbon sequestration in the national inventory.

See this speech in context