Today (Wednesday, March 3) is World Wildlife Day. It will be celebrated this year under the theme ‘Forests and Livelihoods: Sustaining People and Planet’.

This theme seeks to promote forest and forest wildlife management models and practices that accommodate both human wellbeing and the long-term conservation of forests, forest-dwelling species of wild fauna and flora and the ecosystems they sustain.

According to the UN, between 200 and 350 million people live within or adjacent to forested areas around the world, “relying on the various ecosystem services provided by forest and forest species for their livelihoods and to cover their most basic needs, including food, shelter, energy and medicines”.

“Roughly 28% of the world’s land surface is currently managed by indigenous peoples, including some of the most ecologically intact forests on the planet.

These spaces are not only central to their economic and personal wellbeing, but also to their cultural identities.

“Forests, forests species and the livelihoods that depend on them currently find themselves at the crossroads of the multiple planetary crises we currently face, from climate change, to biodiversity loss and the health, social and economic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.”

Project Woodland

Fitting with this theme, closer to home, Minister Pippa Hackett only last week published ‘Project Woodland’ – a new strategy to address the issues in the forestry sector in Ireland.

Also Read: Project Woodland: What’s the new plan for fixing forestry?

The initiative comes on the back of a report by Jo O’Hara, a private consultant who was formally a British forestry commissioner; the chief forester for Scotland; and the chief executive of Scottish Forestry.

Her report was commissioned by the government in the hope that it would suggest ways to implement the recommendations of an earlier report – the Mackinnon Report – into the various challenges the sector faces.

In her report (which was also published last week), O’Hara proposed that the Mackinnon recommendations be divided into four ‘workstreams’, each tackling a different area.

These workstreams are: addressing the current backlog in licence applications; improving the licensing process; developing the organisation in the department that deals with forestry; and developing a “shared national approach”.

This week, the Joint Committee on Agriculture and the Marine also published its forestry report.

The report comes after weeks of meetings between the committee and various stakeholders and officials on the key issues.

The report makes recommendations on several problems in the sector, including the Mackinnon Report; the Programme for Government; licensing issues; ash dieback; and planning for the future.

History of Forestry in Ireland

Looking to the past, Ireland was left “with very few native tree species following the Ice Age and a changing climate”, according to Teagasc.

Over the centuries, Ireland experienced a near-total destruction of its forests mainly because of human activity and a deterioration of the climate: from an initial forest cover of around 80% to less than 1%.

“Ireland is the only country in Europe where such complete forest destruction took place.

“Ireland has the lowest forest cover of all European countries: approximately 11% compared to a European average of well over 30%. Co. Wicklow has the highest forest cover, while Co. Meath has the fewest trees.

“These forests are mostly man-made.”

While only 11% of Ireland is covered in forest, it still sustains many livelihoods. Since 1991, most tree planting is carried out by private individuals (mostly farmers) with the assistance of grant aid.

There are approximately 12,000 jobs in the forestry sector, which is worth €2.3 billion.

Climate change will, and already is, having a direct impact on people’s lives and livelihoods. However, forestry can help to mitigate the effects of climate change by reducing the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

“Trees absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere for growth, convert it to sugars and wood and release pure oxygen back to the atmosphere,” Coillte explains.

“In Ireland, young forests grow quickly and absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide. Harvesting the trees before they die naturally [and return their carbon to the atmosphere] locks the carbon into the wood and wood products. Replanting the trees then begins the cycle of carbon storage again immediately.”

‘Something good comes out of every crisis’

Forests will have an increasingly important part to play in Ireland’s future. The success of the sector, like anything, depends on communication, collaboration and creativity.

Minister Pippa Hackett has previously said that she wants to see farmers supported to grow a much wider variety of forest types.

Agroforestry can, she notes, improve agricultural soil health and provide shelter for farm animals, while wilder areas of forest can promote biodiversity in our countryside.

The forestry sector is described as being in ‘crisis’, a word not used lightly after such a difficult year experienced by so many. May better days lie ahead, and may we believe in the quote by American author Dave Pelzer: “Something good comes out of every crisis”.