The Social, Economic Environmental Forestry Association of Ireland (SEEFA) has said it is “imperative” that there is a “substantial improvement” in forestry licensing in 2024, compared to this year.
The comments come as the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) Forestry Licensing Dashboard shows that afforestation licences for just 763ha have been issued to date this year.
In 2022, DAFM issued afforestation licences for just under 5,000ha, while that figure was 4,246ha in the previous year.
The annual data, up to the third week of December, shows that DAFM received 143 afforestation applications to date this year, with 85 licences issued.
890 private felling applications were made, while just under 1,400 licences were issued.
The department received 1,078 felling applications from Coillte and granted 1,402 licences to the state forestry company.
509 applications were made in relation to forestry roads, with 221 licences granted to date this year.
SEEFA
The figures show that the department is falling well behind the annual afforestation target of 8,000ha set down in the Climate Action Plan.
DAFM said that 1,649ha of trees have been planted so far this year, almost 2,300ha was planted in 2022.
In a statement, SEEFA said that it remains concerned about the current level of licences being issued.
“It is imperative that we witness a substantial improvement in 2024 compared to 2023.
“A well-structured plan is crucial for achieving this, which is why we have persistently sought the release of the licensing plan,” the body representing the private forestry sector said.
The group called on Minister of State with responsibility for forestry, Pippa Hackett to make the 2024 licensing plan publicly available before the end of the year.
“This timely disclosure will contribute significantly to the envisioned improvements needed for forestry in Ireland,” SEEFA said.