A chara, – John FitzGerald is right to say that we need trees in Ireland, and lots of them, not only to create new woodland habitats and to sequester carbon but also to support an increase in the use of wood products (“Clumsy EU law hampering our ability to plant forests”, Business, October 14th).
However, we take exception to his assertion that environmental laws, including those protecting birds, are a barrier to afforestation as a climate action.
This is a misleading and dangerous suggestion.
In 2019, Dáil Éireann declared a climate and a biodiversity emergency. Both must be addressed together.
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Some of the facts underpinning this emergency are that 85 per cent of our internationally important habitats are in bad condition, 63 per cent of our wild bird species are declining, and one-third of our 99 wild bee species are threatened with extinction.
Sectoral policies, especially those in relation to agriculture, have been the primary cause of biodiversity decline in Ireland, but afforestation is also a driver. If afforestation is not carefully planned and instead is carried out in inappropriate areas, such as high nature-value farmland, it destroys habitat for ground nesting birds, such as curlew and hen harrier, and attracts additional predators to the landscape which prey on eggs and chicks.
Some Irish forestry plantations are actually net emitters of carbon because they were planted on peat soils, and we know of cases where new forests are still being planted on peat. Forestry is also the third-greatest polluter of river water quality, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, adversely impacting aquatic plants and animals.
Using sensitivity mapping to avoid planting on important areas for birds and habitats is one technical solution to support wins both for biodiversity and for climate. BirdWatch Ireland has collated all available data on farmland birds and developed hot-spot maps, and we call on the Forest Service to use these to plan forestry strategically.
The 2003 Derrybrien wind farm and peat-slide disaster happened because of failure to adhere to environmental law and resulted in the death of an estimated 50,000 brown trout, damaged property and caused great stress in local communities. Mr FitzGerald’s criticism of environmental laws, including those protecting birds, is regrettable. With wild bird populations in rapid decline, they need all the help we can give them. – Yours, etc,
LINDA LENNON,
CEO,
BirdWatch Ireland,
Kilcoole,
Co Wicklow.