Forest Products Industry

Irish Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Senator Pippa Hackett, announced the publication of the Annual Forest Statistics Report for 2024. Source: Timberbiz This annual report, prepared by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, provides an annual compilation of statistics on Ireland’s forest sector and the forest industry. These forest statistics provide stakeholders with a repository of reliable and transparent information about the forest sector over the past year. “As an annual report, Forest Statistics Ireland 2024 is an essential publication for anybody interested in a detailed overview of our forestry sector. This annual report provides vital information for researchers, students and practitioners who wish to understand where the sector sits in our overall national economic picture,” Ms Hackett said. “Clearly the pace at which we are expanding our forest estate needs to increase substantially. The impact of the length of the State Aid approval process for the new Forestry Programme is reflected in the afforestation figures for last year, with afforestation under the new Forestry Program only beginning in September 2023. “Notwithstanding that, over 4,000 hectares have been made available for planting by the Forest Service since then, which I expect to result in increased afforestation figures for 2024. “While afforestation is ultimately a voluntary land use choice and there is much competition for land in the current market, the significantly increased funding in place for the new program combined with efficiencies in the licensing process make afforestation a highly attractive option for farmers and landowners, and I expect that the pace at which we continue to expand the forest estate will increase significantly over the remainder of the rogram to 2027.” The report highlights that total expenditure on forest activities, including maintenance grants, grants for forest road infrastructure, annual premium payments and supports for the afforestation of 1,651 hectares, was €73.8 million in 2023. “The percentage of broadleaves in new forests created during 2023 was 54%, which is the first time that the proportion of broadleaves planted exceeded conifer tree planting. My department also supported the construction of 78 km of private forest roads during 2023, an increase of 8 km over 2022. This will be essential to mobilising the projected increase in harvesting, which is expected to double by 2030,” Ms Hackett said. The continuation of the National Forest Inventory is essential to monitor change in Ireland’s forest estate, in terms of extent composition and health. Later this year, the Department will begin the planning for the fifth National Forest Inventory, which is due to commence in 2025. The recent proposal by the European Commission of a new forest monitoring law will make it mandatory for Member States to report national level information about their forests, emphasising the benefit of ongoing forest monitoring in Ireland. “The production of statistics by my department on a weekly, monthly and annual basis is essential to evaluating progress towards the implementation of Ireland’s Forest Strategy (2023 – 2030),” Ms Hackett said. Ten key statistics from Forest Statistics – Ireland 2024 include: Total expenditure in 2023 by DAFM on forest activities including afforestation, maintenance grants, annual premium payments and grants for forest road infrastructure was €73.8 million. The area of new forest created during 2023 totalled 1,651 hectares with the greatest afforestation taking place in Co. Roscommon with 189 hectares followed by Co. Galway with 139 hectares. The percentage of broadleaves in new forests created during 2023 was 54%, which was up from 43% in the previous year. This is the first time that proportion of broadleaves planted exceeded conifer tree planting. Between 1980 and 2023, over 24,000 private landowners have accessed the grants available to establish new forests, with an average size of 8.6 hectares. Farmers have accounted for 82% of afforestation on private lands. The percentage of land afforested by farmers during 2023 was 47%, which was up from 23% in the previous year. Over the period 2006-2023, 40% of the area afforested was by those aged 60 years or more. In 2023, 57% of the area afforested was by those aged 60 years or more and for those in receipt of premium payments, 61% were aged 60 years or more. In 2023, a total of 3.5 tonnes of Pedunculate Oak seed was sown in forestry nurseries, equating to over 3.4 million plants. The other main broadleaf species were Downy Birch and Common Alder. The main conifer species included Sitka spruce, Scots pine and, lodgepole pine. The construction of 78 km of private forest roads was funded during 2023, an increase of 8 km over 2022. This reflects the projected increase in timber and wood to be harvested, which is expected to double by 2030. During 2023, felling licences were issued for the thinning of 8,144 hectares and the clearfelling of 24,444 hectares. These sum to a total 505,814 hectares licenced for thinning since 2010 and 184,081 ha licenced for clearfell over the same period. Approximately half of Ireland’s forest estate is certified by international non-governmental organisations to promote good forest practice. The vast majority of this area is in the public forest estate, with 33,064 hectares of private forests currently certified. In 2022 Ireland’s forests removed 2.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents, an increase of 0.34 million tonnes compared to 2021. The Census of Ireland has shown that employment in the forestry sector fell from 2,468 in 2016 to 2,138 in 2022. While in the Logging and Manufacture of wood and wood products employment grew from 4,000 in 2016 to 4,274 in 2022. The full report is at https://www.gov.ie/en/collection/15b56-forest-statistics-and-mapping/#annual-forest-sector-statistics    

Climate change is likely to drive tree species towards colder and wetter regions of their geographical distribution, a new study has shown. The research, led by the University of Alcalá (UAH), in Spain, and including researchers at the University of Birmingham, draws together data from across Europe and North America to show that tree species in the Northern Hemisphere are starting to become denser in colder and wetter regions. Source: Timberbiz The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) provides the first quantitative evidence that climate change is driving this change in the numbers of trees of each species across temperate forests on a continental scale. The researchers analysed data from over two million trees, representing 73 species widely distributed across Europe and the United States. They investigated whether changes in tree density could be attributed to specific characteristics of each species, such as tolerance to arid conditions, or their capacity to disperse. Importantly, however, the study did not identify any single trait of the tree species as being decisive for these changes. “Some tree species which are currently used for ecosystem restoration in Europe may no longer be suitable in these regions in the near future… massive reforestation programmes planned as a solution for capturing and storing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere might be limited in their effectiveness if they do not account for these responses,” Dr Thomas Pugh  of the University of Birmingham and Lund University and co-author explained. Julen Astigarraga, from UAH and lead author of the study said that this lack of a definitive trait suggests that most species possess a degree of acclimation capability. Understanding how forest species are responding to climate change through increasing their density in these more northerly regions is essential for planning ecosystem conservation, management and restoration. “Some tree species which are currently used for ecosystem restoration in Europe may no longer be suitable in these regions in the near future,” Dr Pugh said. “In addition, massive reforestation programs planned as a solution for capturing and storing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere might be limited in their effectiveness if they do not account for these responses.” The study represented a significant international collaboration, with scientists from 12 countries, and data analysis from more than 125,000 forest plots across Europe and North America. Adriane Esquivel Muelbert, an expert in forest ecology at the University of Birmingham and co-author on the paper, said: “This study required a significant international effort to pull together and harmonise data from many different sources. The data from these forest inventories is crucial for advancing our understanding of forest dynamics and their resilience to climate change.” The study was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, and by the European Research Council’s TreeMort project. It included data and analysis from the Spanish National Forest Inventory, the Flemish Forest Inventory, the CzechTerra Landscape Inventory, the Finnish Forest Health Monitoring Network, the Dutch Forest Inventory, the Polish National Forest Inventory, the Swedish National Forest Inventory, and the United States Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis research program.

According to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, extensive land areas have been left sitting idle after tropical forests were cleared in Indonesia, a country renowned for its biodiverse rainforests and carbon-rich peatlands. Source: PhysOrg Since 1990, the country has lost 25% of its old-growth forest, and while over one-quarter (7.8 million hectares) of Indonesia’s deforested lands have been converted to palm oil plantations since 2020, an even larger area (8.8 million hectares), remain vacant. The study, which focused on Indonesian deforestation trends from 1991 to 2020, also found that over half of Indonesia’s deforested lands were left idle for at least one year after forest clearing, and that 44% remained idle for at least five years. “Old-growth tropical forests are an extremely valuable resource, both locally and globally,” said Diana Parker, a postdoctoral associate in the University of Maryland’s Department of Geographical Sciences and the lead author of the paper. “The fact that such a large area of old-growth forest has been cleared then left empty is surprising.” To understand why so much idle land was being created, researchers first had to determine how the forests were cleared. During the 2015 El Niño event, forest and land fires in Indonesia created a major public health crisis both in Indonesia and in neighbouring countries. Some researchers have speculated that forest fires such as those that occurred in 2015 are largely responsible for the extensive areas of idle non-forest land. This study, however, found that fires resulting in tree cover loss accounted for less than half of all idle land clearing; 54% were cleared mechanically, either through manual clearing or using heavy machinery. “Forest fires can be either intentional or accidental,” said Parker. “Mechanical clearing, however, is not only intentional but can be time consuming and costly. Once we realized that more than half of idle areas were not created by fires, it led to a new question: why would people expend so much effort to clear forests then leave the land empty?” To answer this question, the researchers involved in the study, “Land in limbo: nearly one third of Indonesia’s cleared old-growth forests left idle,” used satellite imagery to examine the histories of deforested areas, both before and after clearing. They found that most forests are degraded, for example by selective logging, before they are cleared, suggesting that timber demand is not the main cause of idle-land creation. Case studies in regions with extensive idle land have also found that clearing increases, rather than decreases, land prices, further suggesting that timber is not the primary driver. After forest clearing, the researchers found that some idle areas were eventually converted to productive uses. Of mechanically cleared idle areas, about one quarter were converted to a productive land use within five years of the deforestation event and half were being used productively in 2020. In these cases, palm oil plantations were by far the most common outcome. “About 80% of mechanically cleared idle land that was converted to a productive use became a palm oil plantation,” said Parker. “This means that the true environmental impact of palm oil is likely much larger than the area planted immediately after forest loss, and is potentially larger than the total deforested area currently planted with oil palms.” This lagged conversion dynamic appears to be unique to palm oil. The researchers found that two-thirds of all palm oil plantations established in deforested areas were planted after a lag of at least one year. Other major deforestation drivers, such as smallholder land use or tree plantations, were almost always established immediately after clearing. “The satellite imagery can’t tell us exactly how idle land creation and the palm oil industry are linked, but the land use trends suggest a relationship,” said Parker. “In some cases, companies or individuals may intend to sell deforested land but are waiting for land prices to rise. Or they may plan to develop the land later, holding it as part of their land bank.” “In other cases, young seedlings may have died before they could be detected in satellite imagery, or conflicts with communities or other concession holders could have delayed planting,” Parker explained. Findings from the study include some hopeful news for the country’s remaining forests: From 2017–2020, Indonesia experienced the lowest deforestation rates observed during the entire study period. “Indonesia is one of the few tropical forest countries that has been able to successfully slow deforestation,” said Matthew Hansen, a professor at the University of Maryland and paper co-author. “Given how much idle land is currently available, Indonesia could stop clearing forests altogether while still increasing palm oil production.” Governments and private companies have increasingly adopted policies designed to eliminate deforestation from commodity supply chains. Under the EU Deforestation Policy (EUDR), set to be implemented later this year, certain commodities, including palm oil, cannot be imported into the EU if they were produced on land deforested after 2020. “This research shows that Indonesia contains vast areas of land deforested before 2020 that are underutilized,” Hansen said. “Using these areas for commodity expansion could allow Indonesia to comply with the EUDR while protecting its remaining natural forests.”

Ryan Media is pleased to introduce its newest team member Andrew Everett, a highly qualified sales executive who will be spearheading the print and digital advertising opportunities for forests and timber suppliers’ goods and services. With a wealth of experience in advertising and a passion for driving growth, Andrew is ready to help you enhance your brand’s visibility whether in print or make a powerful impact in the digital space or both – either way we’ve got you covered. Stay tuned for innovative advertising solutions, tailored strategies, and unparalleled service. Join us in welcoming our Andrew and get ready to elevate your business. Contact Andrew to learn more about how we can help you achieve your advertising goals – a.everett@ryanmediapl.com.au or phone 08 8369 9517 or 0400 512 534.