Ireland, also known as the Emerald Isle, will be fighting climate change through a reforestation project of planting 22 million trees every year. By 2040, the nation will have nearly 440 million new trees.
The destruction of Ireland's forest goes back to the Ice Age all the way to the current climate change crisis. As a result, the original forest area of 80% of the land had been reduced to nearly 1% over the past centuries, according to the Agriculture and Food Development Authority.
The nation began tree planting programs while decreasing dependency on timber. Moreover, around 50% of the forest areas are protected under private ownership and are less than three decades old.
Forests play a major role in offsetting carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere. Harvesting wood products is also a more sustainable source of energy compared to fossil fuels.
Restoring Ireland's Forests
To restore the land's forests, the proposed plan by the government last year was to annually plant 22 million trees to create 19,768 acres of new forestry. A spokesperson of the Department of Communications Climate Action and Environment said that this climate action plan is to expand the existing tree planting and soil management projects.
Headed by the Department of Agriculture, the plan will greatly impact farming land in the country. Some of the largest farmlands in Ireland include organic dairy farms to produce milk, cheese, the famous Irish butter, and other products.
One of the critical steps toward sustainability is convincing the farmers to designate land for future tree planting. However, the farming community currently lacks enthusiasm regarding forestry plans.
Another aspect of the climate change plan is to increase the use of electric vehicles (EVs). The goal is to have 100,00 new EVs per year and reach about one million electric vehicles by 2030.
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Complexities of Tree Planting
However, adding millions of new trees, even if it was a global movement, is quite complex. According to atmospheric scientist Scott Denning, most of the cleared land is not suitable for planting new trees and is better suited for farm use and urban development. Most of the suitable land for forests to thrive in the existing forests.
One other factor is deciding what trees to plant such as native species or invasive species. Pádraic Fogarty from the Irish Wildlife Trust said that trees don't even like to be planted, "they prefer to plant themselves." He proposes that a better solution would be for farmers to plant nothing and allow the land to naturally rewild. Instead of controlling the natural shrubs or trying to fill in wastelands, leaving it along would allow the forest to "come back all by itself," explained Fogarty.
Another study that favors natural regrowth of forests concluded that natural regeneration captures carbon more efficiently than planted trees. It may also take at least 65 years for forests to naturally be restored. This means that perhaps, the focus could return to reducing human activities such as replacing fossil fuels with more sustainable solutions while letting forests naturally heal themselves.
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