The EU has been urged by two Oireachtas committees to put a greater emphasis on forestry in dealing with climate change.
The committees dealing with climate change and agriculture, in a report published today, say that the EU commission should bring forward a directive setting out the conditions for a national programme for forest carbon offsets.
The report's author, Fine Gael agriculture spokesman Andrew Doyle, said the forestry sector would have to be part of any plan for Ireland to meet its climate change obligations.
"This will ultimately allow Ireland to develop a forestry sector that will put it on par with its European counterparts, both in terms of the percentage of land cover and the need to build up an indigenous industry with a plentiful supply of raw material,'' he added.
The report argues that more attention should be given to wood biomass, and the commission should make recommendations about providing higher levels of EU co-financing for afforestation under the rural development programme post-2012.
