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A report from two Oireachtas committees has called on the
EU Commission to set out the conditions for a national programme
for forest carbon offsets in the Republic.
The report says that more attention should be given to wood
biomass to assist in meeting targets for the EU's renewable
energy sources.
The Oireachtas committees dealing with climate change and
energy security and agriculture, forestry and food, published
the report last week in response to the commission's Green
Paper on protecting Europe's forests against climate change.
The report's author, Fine Gael agriculture spokesman Andrew
Doyle, said the forestry sector would have to be part of the
solution if Ireland was to meet its climate change obligations.
"This will ultimately allow Ireland to develop a forestry
sector that will put it on par with its European counterparts
- both in terms of the percentage of land cover and the need
to build up an indigenous industry with a plentiful supply
of raw material."
The report says that, as part of the debate on reform of
the Common Agricultural Policy, the commission should make
recommendations about providing higher levels of EU co-financing
for afforestation under the EU's rural development programme
post-2012. It describes as "a major disappointment" the absence
of any assessment in the Green Paper of the potential for
increased afforestation.
Source - The Irish Times
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