Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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81. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment when the Climate Action Council will undertake a comprehensive review of the climate mitigation potential of forests; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25144/20]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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Our forests provide eco-system services, support biodiversity, and contribute to climate mitigation through acting as carbon sinks. Forestry can also provide important resources for sustainable bioenergy and the wider bioeconomy. For example, timber products can act as a less carbon-intensive substitute for other materials in construction and related sectors.  

Specifically in relation to the carbon mitigation potential of forests, from 2021 onwards, emissions and removals from Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry will be integrated into the EU Framework for compliance with national emissions targets. Under EU legislation, Ireland will be able to use a limited amount of removals associated with land-based activities, including forestry, in meeting our 2030 emissions reductions target under the Effort Sharing Regulation.  

The Programme for Government recognises that land-use offers significant potential to sequester additional carbon and provide a new source of family farm income and rural economic benefit. While the achievement of such improvements is not addressed in current EU policy, the Programme for Government commits to seeking to incentivise land use in the European Green Deal and broader EU policy. It also commits to evaluating, within 24 months, the potential contributions towards our climate ambition from land-use improvements (which includes forestry, farmlands and peatlands) and set in train the development of a land-use plan, based on these findings. This review will include consideration of emissions to air and water, carbon sequestration, and challenges for climate adaptation. The work on the review will be complemented and supported by a new strategy to expand afforestation, particularly "Close to Nature" forestry and agro-forestry, which will be led by Minister of State Hackett in the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine.