Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 14 December 2021
156. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the extent to which all trees, hedgerows and undergrowth are used in the calculation of Ireland's plan to meet carbon reduction targets; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [61944/21]
View answerGreenhouse gas emissions and removals associated with land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF) are reported in Ireland's greenhouse gas emissions inventory prepared by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and submitted annually to the EU and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Forestry, croplands, grasslands, wetlands, settlements and other lands are included in the LULUCF category.
Emissions and removals from hedgerows and non-forest woodland/trees, as landscape features within cropland, grassland and other land use categories, form part of the estimates for the LULUCF category.
A challenge for greenhouse gas emissions inventories is the quantification of the carbon in the above and below ground biomass for hedgerows and non-forest woodland/tress. To address the challenge, my Department through the EPA research programme is co-funding (together with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine) project “Farm-Carbon – Farm Hedgerows and Non-forest Woodland Carbon”. An objective of this project is to advance the understanding of the contribution of hedgerows and non-forest woodland to carbon stocks in agricultural landscapes, and to identify approaches to maintain and enhance this contribution.
