IRISH GRASSLANDS are potentially an important “carbon sink”, absorbing as much as 11-18 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) per hectare per year, according to a report published yesterday by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The research report, Celticflux, was based on measurements made over five years by University College Cork and Teagasc, the agricultural training authority, of grassland sites in counties Cork and Wexford and a peatland site in Co Kerry.
CO2 is the most important greenhouse gas considered to be causing climate change, and policymakers worldwide are working to achieve an international agreement to reduce CO2 emissions at next December’s UN climate change conference in Copenhagen.
The EPA report found most of the CO2 is “recycled” as animal feed, but it estimated that 10 to 15 per cent of the carbon is sequestered in the soil, where it can reside for much longer time periods, with a positive environmental benefit.
EPA director Laura Burke noted that Ireland has more than three million hectares of grassland and said the “important” results of the research showed that the management of Irish grassland “can have an important role in addressing climate change”.
The agency is working with the Department of the Environment, the Department of Agriculture and others on an assessment of how best to account for these results in the context of future development of national actions on climate change.
Frank McGovern, the agency’s senior scientific officer, said there was a need to ensure that the potential of grassland as a carbon sink was fully taken into account when decisions are being made at an international level on future actions to address global warming.