Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 1035: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the carbon sequestration capacity of one hectare of forestry; the most effective way to ensure the maximisation of such potential as a means of reducing carbon trading costs having regard to the availability of such forestry throughout the country; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15044/07]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 1036: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the carbon sequestration capacity of one hectare of bog land; the most effective way to ensure the maximisation of such potential as a means of reducing carbon trading costs having regard to the availability of such bog land throughout the country; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15045/07]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1035 and 1036 together.

The Kyoto Protocol allows Parties to offset carbon sequestered by forests against their greenhouse gas emissions. Article 3.3 allows Parties to count net carbon sequestration from afforestation and deforestation provided since 1990, arising over the period covered by the Protocol, 2008-2012.

Sequestered carbon must be accounted for in national inventories of greenhouse gas emissions in accordance with guidelines provided by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Carbon sequestration associated with bog land in Ireland is not recorded for the purposes of compliance with Ireland's Kyoto Protocol commitments.

In order to calculate sequestration levels from forests, the area of and species composition of afforestation must be estimated for each year. COFORD, the National Council for Forest Research and Development, has developed a model to predict carbon sequestration based on net forest area and a number of other factors such as growth increment, wood density, carbon content and biomass expansion factor, based on Irish research and the Good Practice Guidance of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

The COFORD model estimates that average annual sequestration over the period 2008-2012 will be 2.074 million tonnes of CO2, based on an estimated 244,000 hectares of new forest planted over the period 1990 to date, and 14,000 hectares to be planted per annum between now and 2012. Carbon sequestration in new forest is slow to begin with, but once the crop is fully established it rapidly increases year on year, to reach a peak over the period 10-30 years, depending on species and growth rate. On average, over that period, annual uptake, under Irish conditions, will be 10 tonnes of CO2 per hectare per year.

The National Climate Change Strategy 2007-2012 sets out the measures being taken by the Government to maximise the sequestration potential of forestry. Grant aid for the establishment of forestry is provided under EU and State-funded afforestation schemes. In addition, the Forest Environment Protection Scheme, part of the Rural Development Programme 2007-2013, encourages farmers to combine the establishment of high nature-value woodland with their participation in the Rural Environment Protection Scheme (REPS). An indicative €906 million will be spent on afforestation over the period covered by the Rural Development Programme.