Joe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael)
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35. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the way his Department currently assesses the carbon sequestration ability of farms as it applies to international climate change commitments; his plans to broaden this calculation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12187/17]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Ireland has adopted a whole of Government approach to climate policy, which is led by my colleague the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment. The Government in its National Policy Position adopted an “approach to carbon neutrality in the agriculture and land-use sector, including forestry, which does not compromise capacity for sustainable food production”.

The EPA is the lead in compiling Ireland's annual greenhouse gas emission inventories and projections including those related to sequestration under the land use land-use, change and forestry (LULUCF) categories. This allows the Government to assess progress in terms of meeting key targets and to inform policy development.

We continue to engage at EU and international level to raise understanding of the particular profile of the Irish agriculture sector and how best to develop a coherent and cost-effective approach to the twin challenges of sustainable food production in the light of rising global demand, and climate change mitigation and adaptation in the light of overall EU and global objectives.

The 2013 EU decision on LULUCF will help to recognise the importance of the link in the medium to long term approaches to agriculture in order to avoid perverse actions and encourage good carbon management practices such as crop rotation, protection of permanent pasture, afforestation, forest management and agroforestry.

The inclusion of access to LULUCF credits in the EU proposals of last July will go towards addressing the lower mitigation potential of agriculture while providing a means of encouraging the sustainable intensification of food production, and optimising the sector's contribution to greenhouse gas mitigation and sequestration, including through incentivising afforestation and other forest sector activities and investments.

Farm practices such as the establishment and maintenance of permanent pasture and landscape features which can assist with achieving carbon sequestration benefits are supported through our Rural Development Programme. Our forests sequester carbon by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and then storing it in trees, other vegetation and in soils.

We are engaging in research focussed on the carbon sequestration potential of agricultural soils and continue to direct research funding to improve our understanding of carbon stock changes, which will contribute to the development of a more robust inventory and underpin future accounting for these categories.

It should also be noted that Ireland has elected to report on cropland and grazing land management activities under the Kyoto Protocol (KP). This will allow Ireland to take advantage of any sequestration benefits that may be allowed in the future from these activities.

We are at the forefront in developing carbon-efficient food production systems through investment in such areas as Knowledge transfer and in conducting carbon assessments on Bord Bia Quality assured farms.  The ambition to continue this leading position is set out in the industry-led Food Wise 2025 strategy for the development of food production in Ireland.

Ireland will continue to engage internationally both in terms of policy and research. Just last month we hosted a meeting of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to discuss the special report on climate change, agriculture and food security.