Sir, - Further to Colman Cassidy's timely report (The Irish Times, September 16th), An Taisce of course acknowledges the new National Forest Standards as a major step forward in Irish forestry policy development. It is a matter for debate, however, if the initiative is more notable for its progressive standards or for lost opportunities.
The Forest Standard presents six major criteria for sustainable forest management, but in only very few instances are critical limits assigned to these indicators. The purpose of indicators is to measure the extent to which sustainable forest management is being achieved or not. The document is unable to do this in its present form.
The concerns of environmental NGOs were submitted to the Department of Marine and Natural Resources on May 3rd. While we greatly regret that our concerns remain unaddressed, it is due to the financial support of the Department that Irish NGOs were able to at least have a place at the table and bring to it a professional analysis of the draft document.
As noted in your report, An Taisce is a member of the Irish Coalition for Sustainable Forestry. While individual members of the coalition may have different emphases, the coalition's policies and submissions to both the Irish and European authorities - including a 23-page submission on this Forest Standard - are published in its current handbook and are fully endorsed by An Taisce. - Yours, etc.,
Tony Lowes, Co-ordinator, An Taisce Natural Environment Committee, The Tailors' Hall, Dublin 8.