Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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300. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the consideration given to peatland rewetting and restoration as a means of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the context of drafting the national mitigation plan; and the reason no measures for peatland rewetting, rehabilitation or restoration were included in the draft plan. [17290/17]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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Wetlands can play a role in reducing net greenhouse gas emissions, and are recognised in this regard in the reporting of emissions to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Wetland management chiefly relates to the rewetting, rehabilitation or restoration of wetlands, and Ireland accounts for mitigation action within some wetlands which fall within currently reported land types (e.g. forested areas). However, under UNFCCC reporting rules, the specific inclusion of wetlands as a distinct land category is limited to organic soils not reported elsewhere within national greenhouse gas emissions inventories. This restricts its potential role to lands which are largely former or active peat extraction areas, degraded near-natural areas or otherwise abandoned organic soils. The management of these lands falls across a number of Departments, and a number of public and private agencies.

In relation to the potential mitigation capability of wetland areas, it should be noted that global experience in the tracking and reporting of climate mitigation measures is limited at present. Owing to the diversity of wetlands, research is needed on the measurement, mitigation and development of national emission factors. The Government, through the Environmental Protection Agency, continues to direct research funding to improve our understanding of carbon stock changes in peatlands and agricultural soils in order to contribute to the development of a more robust inventory and underpin future accounting for these categories.

I am open to considering further work on this topic in the context of the National Mitigation Plan, building on the research already undertaken.