Agency questions State's forestry policy

The effectiveness of the State's tree-planting schemes to combat greenhouse gas emissions has been questioned by the European Environment Agency (EEA).

According to the National Council for Forest Research and Development, Irish forests have a key role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The council is supported by the Department of Finance which said Irish forestry is worth more in reducing greenhouse gas emissions than it is for the timber value. But the EEA has claimed that up to 84 per cent of Irish forests between 1990 and 2000 were developed on peatland - a feature which releases substantial carbon and greenhouse gases which had already been sequestered in the peat.

The council, which was yesterday holding a one-day conference in Co Wicklow on the impact of forestry on climate change, acknowledged that forests on peatland released previously sequestered carbon. But chief executive Dr Eugene Hendrick rejected the EEA figures, insisting that just 28 to 29 per cent of Irish forestry in the years in question had been developed on peatland and the amount of forestry being established on peatland was being reduced.

Asked if he could explain the wide difference in assessments of the amount of peatland-based forestry, Dr Hendrick said the European figures were incorrect. Irish figures were superior because they were "national figures compiled on the ground" with the aid of site visits. EEA figures were compiled at a distance, he said.

But Jean Louise Weber, of the Spatial Analysis Group in the EEA, said the EEA figures were checked twice for his report, Revision of the Assessment of Forest Creation and Afforestation in Ireland. Mr Weber said afforestation on peat bogs ranged up to 84 per cent of the total afforestation for the period 1990-2000.