Afforestation strategy must benefit local communities
FORESTRY strategy should be strengthened to prioritise afforestation taken by public bodies, farmers, local communities and landowners over investment management ventures is the opinion of Mayo local election candidate Donna Hyland.
Speaking ahead of a public meeting last night in Balla Community Centre to discuss the Save Craggagh Campaign, Donna Hyland stated: “The community of Craggagh are fed up with the expansion of forestry in their village, where farmland is increasingly planted with Sitka Spruce plantations by foreign investment funds who have purchased good agricultural land.”
Ms. Hyland continued: “There is no requirement for planning permission for forestry plantations which can be at odds with rural communities. Rural communities can submit objections to the granting of licences by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, but communities feel powerless to prevent afforestation in their own areas due to an ambiguous objection system.
“A change in forestry strategy is needed with an aim to protect rural dwellers. The community of Craggagh have over 50% of their area planted with Sitka Spruce forest. This is not acceptable and the environmental impact of over planting in this area is not even being considered.
“At a time when climate change reduction is a key priority of Mayo County Council and our national government it seems the government needs to rethink the current afforestation strategy.”
Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh has been clear about Sinn Féin’s commitment to a sustainable afforestation strategy recognising the importance of increasing the percentage of land under forestry in the mitigation of carbon emissions.
She said: “Not all plantations are beneficial to the local environment and not all species are beneficial to local habitats. The intensive plantation of invasive species such as Sitka Spruce has had a detrimental environmental ecological impact.
"This type of plantation has also had a regressive economic and social environmental impact.”