Ireland's State of the Environment Report 2024

126 Chapter 5: Land Policy/strategy/ legislation Explicit conservation target (conserves or limits a land use) Explicit expansion target (will use more land) Possible consequential impact (the target is not explicit but could result in a land use change) FORESTRY Food Vision 2030, Ag Climatise and LULUCF target N/A Increase afforestation from existing levels to at least 8000 ha per year and double the sustainable production of biomass from forests to 2 million tonnes by 2035 N/A Ag Climatise (December 2020) N/A Construct 125 km of new forest roads per year to facilitate the movement of biomass and harvested wood products Through the forestry programme, continue to fund the planting of woodlands of different sizes (from 0.1 ha upwards) to increase connectivity between hedgerows and larger woodlands and provide corridors for wildlife N/A Ireland’s Forestry Strategy 2023– 2030 (September 2023) N/A Meet a forest cover target of 18% or more by 2050 N/A Coillte Strategic Vision (April 2022) N/A Coillte to grow 100,000 ha of new forests by 2050 N/A Ireland’s National Energy and Climate Plan 2021–2030 (June 2020) N/A Deliver expansion of forestry planting and soil management to ensure that carbon abatement from land use is delivered in 2021–2030 and in the years beyond Promote the increased use of domestic harvested wood in longer lived products, thus enhancing the storage of carbon in these products and replacing materials with a higher carbon intensity