Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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381. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his plans to address the issue in respect of the national forestry accounting plan 2021-25 finding that 54% of forestry in Ireland emits more carbon than it sequesters. [35967/20]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Ireland’s forests and harvested wood products play a significant role in climate change mitigation by removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. The national forest estate is an important store for carbon, estimated at over 312 million tonnes. Ireland’s total forest area is not a net emitter of greenhouse gases and is a substantial sink for carbon dioxide compared to other land uses.

As part of the implementation EU Regulation 2018/814, Ireland, like all EU Member States, had to submit a National Forestry Accounting Plan which sets out the emissions and removals resulting from older forests. These forests for the purposes of greenhouse gas accounting under the regulation are referred to as “managed forest lands”. The regulation also requires that a forest reference level is set for the period 2021-2025. This reference level is needed in order to account and report greenhouse gas changes from 2021-2025 against this land category. Ireland’s forests in this category include all forests that are older than 30 years of age during the period 2021-2030. While the Managed Forest Lands (MFL) area, because of particular circumstances and timing, will be a small emitter over the upcoming period, the amount in question will be far outweighed by what the rest of the forest estate is storing and sequestering.

The forest reference level is based on the continuation of sustainable forest management, as documented in the period from 2000 to 2009 with regard to dynamic age-related forest characteristics in national forests, using the best available data. It is the intention to continue to manage these forests sustainably and based on harvest levels outlined in the long term round wood production forecast. Roundwood production will increase over the next number of years as forests mature and replanting takes place.

The important point to note is that the entire forest estate under long term projections is and will remain a net sink for carbon dioxide up to 2050 as outlined in the National Forest Accounting Plan. Detailed modelling, projections and sensitivity analysis will be required to estimate carbon removals post 2050 in conjunction with the level of harvest, afforestation and deforestation in the coming decades.