Sir, – Gill McCarthy's (Letters, August 14th) invokes the recent terrifying climate report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in order to call for an end to our current forestry licensing system. The claim is that forestry can tackle both the climate and biodiversity crises.
While trees do indeed lock in carbon and should be a core aspect of Ireland’s response to the climate crisis, Gill McCarthy is wrong on several points.
The letter argues that “the more land planted, the more carbon will be stored”, but it is just not that simple. It is a fact that natural mixed woodland sequesters more carbon than the monoculture plantations some favour.
In this country, conifers are usually harvested after just two decades,releasing at least some of the carbon stored, depending on use.
Far from offering a haven for biodiversity, commercial forestry which is planted as monocultures of non-native conifers threatens a large number of Irish insects, birds and mammals, in particular the vulnerable hen harrier (only 150 breeding pairs left) and the curlew, which is predicted to go extinct within a decade in large part due to forestry practices.
What the letter calls “the reduced effectiveness of hanging on to impoverished habitats” is in fact a vital lifeline for many species including the Irish hare, many Irish native bees and butterflies, and ground nesting birds such as lapwing, snipe, meadow pipit and skylark.
Finally, the letter ignores the devastating impact commercial forestry can have on local communities, including water pollution from chemicals, landslides and soil erosion, as well as feelings of isolation from living under the shadows of conifers, as felt by many residents here in Co Leitrim, for example.
The warning that jobs may be lost in the forestry sector negates the fact that many commercial forestry plantations are owned by overseas investors and therefore don’t benefit local communities at all.
In conclusion, the growing climate catastrophe should not be used as an excuse to plant any more non-native commercial monoculture plantations. What is needed instead is the restoration of existing native forests, and a commitment from the Government to set aside large areas of land for rewilding and mature native woodland.
Grants to local farmers to plant biodiversity-enhancing trees on farmland, which will have a real chance of reducing the carbon levels that cause climate change, should be greatly increased. – Yours, etc,
Dr ANNETTE
JORGENSEN,
Kilnagross,
Co Leitrim.