Ireland works to restore decimated woodlands

Despite being known as the ‘Emerald Isle’, Ireland has one of the lowest rates of forest coverage in the European Union, leading to concerted efforts from the government to encourage more tree planting and reclaim lost ground.

Six thousand years ago, 80% of Ireland was covered in forest, a figure that shrunk to just 1% by the end of the 19th century, according to Ireland’s Agriculture and Food Development Authority.

This downward spiral was reversed in the early 20th century when the newly independent Irish State encouraged tree planting, bringing Ireland’s forest cover back from 1% to 11%.

But the government wants to increase this to 18% through a range of initiatives, including forestry grants for mainly farmers to encourage tree planting, to reach the target “in a few decades time,” the authority said.

Efforts to restore forests are not limited to Ireland. In the EU, the European Commission is trying to reverse nature and biodiversity loss with the recently agreed Nature Restoration Law, which includes targets for restoring ecosystems like forests.

Yet, few EU countries have such a high mountain to climb. Ireland has one of the lowest share of land covered by forests in the EU – ranking just ahead of smaller countries like the Netherlands (10%) and the small island of Malta (1.5%), according to Eurostat.

Tackling the drastic decline of Ireland’s biodiverse, carbon-capturing woodland ecosystems requires addressing overgrazing and invasive species to coax nature back.

“Ireland’s countryside is hammered by overgrazing, invasive species and other human impacts. Most species needed for functioning ecosystems are present in Irish habitats but are very much suppressed. It’s a case of just giving the biodiversity space to come back,” said Rory Hodd, a botanical researcher.

Pests, fires and drought: Why Europe needs to restore its forests

Europe’s forests are threatened by the growing frequency of pests, fires and droughts caused by climate change, raising concerns as to whether they are resilient enough to continue sustaining biodiversity as well as human activity.

Bringing farmers and local communities on board

Hodd advises a project called Hometree, which is working to protect, restore and create new Irish woodlands. Their work includes fencing off ancient woodlands to allow natural regeneration, planting trees, collecting seeds and growing them in a nursery – all working with specialists to ensure their actions match the local environment.

Their efforts are split between working alongside farmers to incorporate conservation and restoration into agricultural land and projects on land owned by Hometree.

Hometree having its own land is essential to give it a stake in the community, showcase what restoration efforts can achieve and provide space to try out different practices, said Ray Ó Foghlú, project lead at the organisation.

“One of the first sites we got was a small 15-acre woodland here in West Clare. From that, we got funding from the Department of Agriculture here in Ireland to work with local farmers. And we created an additional 100 acres of native woodland on their farms,” he explained.

Ó Foghlú warned that the organisation cannot buy enough land to reverse Ireland’s nature loss and that it also needs to engage farmers in restoration efforts, like fencing off ancient woodlands to prevent damage caused by sheep.

“You’ll see an immediate bounce back of biodiversity once sheep are excluded,” said Ó Foghlú, explaining that sheep grazing prevents regeneration, stopping ground flora and shrubs.

“That’s all there latent, waiting to come back,” he added.

While getting farmers onboard can initially be difficult as some have had bad experiences with protected areas being created without any compensation, the farmers Hometree works with are happy to engage and get a huge amount from it, said Ó Foghlú.

He explained that restoration and conservation efforts help create a more resilient farm. This includes better water body protection and shelter for livestock and helping farms become more financially resilient through state payments for woodland creation.

Putting local communities at the heart of forest restoration

Europe’s forests must be restored to strengthen them against new threats brought about by climate change, but communities, local knowledge and foresters need to be at the heart of this to make it a success.

Forest restoration is a long-term effort

However, he warned that there are still challenges, including locating pockets of ancient woodland and a lack of finance to incentivise farmers to protect them.

Engaging rural communities and farmers is also essential when controlling invasive species. Rhododendron is one of the most problematic species as it thrives on Ireland’s acidic soils and is a prolific seeder, crowding out native plants.

Dealing with it is a huge task that requires community engagement, according to Ó Foghlú.

“Obviously, the removal of a big infestation and the killing of the plants is a big, big job. But, after that, you need a light-touch caretaking job of walking land and pulling seedlings,” he said, adding this is beyond the state’s capabilities and requires healthy rural communities to carry out.

Like controlling invasive species, forest restoration is a long-term effort, the product of which may take decades to show. This is particularly the case for newly planted woodlands that take time to develop into biodiverse areas.

Hometree is experimenting with speeding this up by transporting ground flora via plugs to kickstart its growth. It is still in its early days and has only been tried on one site, but the results are positive.

“They’ve done really well. They went in as maybe 20 centimetre by 20 centimetre plugs and after a year of growth, they are probably about 50 centimetres squared now and you see the flora is expanding out,” said Ó Foghlú.

The long-term nature of restoration efforts also requires funding to be equally long-term and predictable, said Hodd.

“In the long, long term, if there’s a good strategy in place and there’s a funding commitment to keep the actions going, then maybe in a few decades, we can see meaningful large-scale changes, but it needs to be on a massive scale and something sustained,” he said.

A reasonable amount of funding has been made available to improve the quality of habitats in Ireland, including for peatlands, woodlands and coastal habitats like machairs – flat, grassy areas by the sea.

But Hodd emphasised that, while these projects have good budgets and are making good progress, they’re “just a tiny drop in the ocean” in the overall context of halting the decline of habitats and species.

By 2030, the EU aims to plant three billion new trees as part of efforts to fight climate change and stop biodiversity loss.

EU's 3 billion trees by 2030 goal: where we stand

In May 2020, the European Commission published its biodiversity strategy, which included the aim to plant three billion new trees by 2030 to help tackle climate change and create jobs.

[Edited by Frédéric Simon/Alice Taylor]

Read more with Euractiv

German Greens make way for European carbon management plan

The German Greens have adopted a European Parliament election programme which highlights the need for carbon capture and storage, a historic shift for the party.