Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), with responsibility for forestry, Senator Pippa Hackett, has urged architects and builders to ‘think timber’ when considering new-builds and construction projects into the future.
Today, the minister launched the publication of a series of COFORD statements on forests and their role in climate change mitigation.
What is COFORD?
The COFORD Council is is a body appointed by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to advise the minister and his department on issues related to the development of the forest sector in Ireland. Its membership is appointed by the Minister and comprises stakeholders from across the forestry sector.
The statements provide information on the role of forests in removing carbon from the atmosphere and highlight the importance of ensuring forests are resilient in a changing climate, according to the DAFM.
The publication was prepared by members of the COFORD Council’s Forest and Climate Change Working Group.
“We need to increase significantly the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and achieve climate neutrality by 2050,” the minister said at the launch of statements.
“Forests and woodland have a significant role to play here. This starts with putting more trees in the ground and I am working with all stakeholders to ensure that we can up our afforestation rates and ensure that this nature-based climate action of planting trees can be achieved.”
The series of statements draws on the collective expertise of a wide range of organisations who work on a number of COFORD Council working groups.
Forestry – future debate and action
The statements cover three broad areas consisting of forests and climate; the impacts on forests; and the important role of wood products.
It brings together a range of evidence-based facts which will inform public debate on forests and wood in the years ahead.
Referring to the importance of wood, Minister Hackett said:
“There are clearly massive opportunities to significantly increase the quantity of timber used in houses and to consider building taller buildings using engineered wood products such as cross laminated timber.
“So I am calling on our architects and our builders to ‘think timber’. We are planning major increases in house-building. I believe we need to make sure our timber industry plays a big part in it.
“The recently published Housing for All – A new Housing Plan for Ireland sets out the trajectory of house building required out to 2030.
“This increase in house building also corresponds to a doubling of harvest from our national forests over the same time period.
Dr Eugene Hendrick on behalf of the COFORD Council said:
“The COFORD statements clearly outline the importance of increasing afforestation significantly above current levels and the importance of timber products in achieving decarbonisation of our economy.”