The State agricultural research and advisory body Teagasc today began a series of events promoting and giving advice on hedgerow planting.
Some 4,470 kilometres of new native hedgerows are due to be planted on 14,900 farms over the next three to four years under the Rural Environmental Protection Scheme.
Coinciding with the campaign, Minister for the Environment Dick Roche unveiled a week-long biodiversity awareness campaign in Dublin today.
The Minister said the Notice Naturecampaign - aimed at promoting greater awareness of the importance of our natural environment - is an important part of our obligations to meet the European Union goal of halting the loss of bio-diversity by 2010.
Mr Roche urged to the public to take action for biodiversity by planting more trees and nurturing wildlife around them.
The campaign also run a series of outdoor events in the national parks and nature reserves in the run-up to International bio-diversity Day on May 22nd.
As part of the campaign, people are being urged to plant or sponsor the planting of a tree. The public are also being warned to avoid putting household hazardous materials such as fats, oil and grease down their sinks and to de-sludge their septic tanks at least once a year.
Friends of the Irish Environment (FIE) today criticised the Government's forestry policy.
FIE director Tony Lowes said the national afforestation programme, "Growing for the Future", was uneconomical and was having a detrimental effect on habitats and water quality. The non-native Sitka Spruce has been the most-planted tree in Ireland for the past 15 years or more because of its speedy growth.
But it produces relatively poor quality wood, which Mr Lowes says is unsuitable for wood-burning stoves and the construction industry, although it can be used in the manufacture of chipboard.
"To be economic it requires large blocks of clearfell that are entirely destructive of the environment and landscape," Mr Lowes said.
He noted that under the National Development Plan 2007-2013, 20,000 hectares of trees a year are to be planted until 2036. He said it would be the "most massive land-use change in Irish history, yet not one hectare has to be planted with native species under the current regulations".
Mr Lowes also noted European Environmental Agency figures that showed 84 per cent of Irish forestry between 1990 and 2000 was planted on peatlands.
A report published yesterday by the Environmental Change Institute at NUI Galway called on policy makers to take an integrated approach to tackling air quality and climate change.
For instance, reducing the emission of a greenhouse gas like methane, which is also a source of ozone - a local pollutant - would also improve air quality, Dr Colin O'Dowd, editor of the report, said.