The second phase of the land use review, which will be used to determine the emissions reduction target for the land use, land use change and forestry sector (LULUCF), has begun.
Phase 2 of the review was announced by Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue; Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications Eamon Ryan; and Minister of State for heritage and electoral reform Malcolm Noonan.
The first phase of the land use review focused on evidence gathering and was completed earlier this year.
The second phase, according to the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications, seeks to identify the key demands on land (both public and private) to inform policies for land use across government objectives in improving socio-economic, climate, biodiversity, water, and air quality outcomes.
The department said that socio-economic outcomes include food and fibre production; incomes and employment “especially on family farms”; maintaining resilient rural communities; and the provision of housing and housing material.
The department also said that the review will recognise the “very significant role that farmers and farm families play as custodians of our environment and in the overall success of the economy and society as a whole”.
According to the department, phase 2 will “build on the momentum farm families and their businesses have achieved in sustainable food production, and addressing environmental ambitions”.
It added that any measures that will be made available to farmers will be voluntary and done in partnership and in collaboration with government.
“The work will note, in particular, that the remaining years of this decade are critical if we are to address the climate and biodiversity crises…and that clean air and water are essential to the health and welfare of all our people.”
Phase 2 of the land use review will inform the preparation of future Climate Action Plans, including in supporting the consideration of LULUCF targets and the identification of policies and measures to achieve emissions reductions for that sector.
An oversight group chaired by a retired secretary general of the Department of the Environment, Geraldine Tallon, will deliver phase 2.
She will report to ministers Ryan, McConalogue, and Noonan.
The group will prepare both an interim report and a final report taking into account the outputs of two working groups which will be established.
A technical working group will be chaired by Mark Scott, Professor of Planning and Dean of Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Planning and Environmental Policy at University College Dublin (UCD).
A citizen engagement working group, meanwhile, will “communicate, inform, engage and motivate all stakeholders on the agreed national priorities that comprise a shared vision for the necessary transition in land use”.
That group will be chaired by Rory O’Donnell, retired Director of the National Economic and Social Council (NESC).