Please can you tell us what you think of the Restoration Standards for our Tree Planting Project?

We’d love to hear from you! Link to the standards below and email for response. Do copy us at orla@easytreesie.com !

https://a.plant-for-the-planet.org/standards/

Request for feedback from Plant-for-the-Planet; can you help? ; at first glance we have sent on one issue in Ireland is the fact that our country, once covered with 80 per cent mixed native woodland now has a monoculture of rye grass for cattle raising covering over 50% of our agricultural land. Re; the statement below as a minimum standard; I presume this does not refer to restoration of this sort of now-degraded monoculture grass land, denuded originally for this purpose. 

I request an exemption for Ireland Re; your top standard re; For restoration projects:

Only native species

In Ireland we have only 28 native tree species. 2 have been eliminated from our planting list ; elm and ash due to disease. The genetic diversity of these species is really narrow as many came across the landbridge when Ireland was connected to the European continent before rising seas. This makes our native species very vulnerable to wipeout. Were we not an island, we would expect to have many more species growing well here. Ireland has a wonderful climate for growing trees and very many naturalised species such as beech, sycamore, lime etc. grow really well here. 

“No planting of evergreen species when forests are deciduous dominated”

None? But evergreens will capture carbon winter and summer so double the carbon capture. Surely evergreens are allowable in a mix if only to provide winter shelter, diversity, biodiversity is good surely? Do you mean “no unique planting of evergreen species…”

We have some farmers planting trees with us. We justify planting on private land because Ireland is now planting at 1950s level at a rate of a mere 2,000 ha or so annually which is insufficient for even our national need for timber. Timber is being imported for construction currently for example from Scotland and saplings are being exported to the same place because of low uptake by farmers for tree planting. In that instance the farmers may not want to be tied into forfeiting any income from thinnings or harvesting following proper forest management practices to being obliged to donate it to the community. Perhaps we could ask for re-investment of such funding to expanding the woodland if not on their own farm then within their locality.