Create accountLogin

Recent searches

No recent searches

Search options

Only available when logged in.
mastodon.ie is one of the many independent Mastodon servers you can use to participate in the fediverse.
Irish Mastodon - run from Ireland, we welcome all who respect the community rules and members.

Administered by:

Server stats:

1.6K
active users

mastodon.ie: AboutProfiles directoryPrivacy policy

Mastodon: AboutGet the appKeyboard shortcutsView source codev4.3.8

RABHARTA

The government's afforestation scheme amounts to nothing more than a bailout of the timber industry. Presenting this piece of greenwashing as progress only serves to undermine belief in climate action.

Read ARG-GL's statement on the subject below 👇

Speaking following the European Commission’s endorsement of the Irish government’s “afforestation scheme”, leader of An Rabharta Glas—Green Left ClIr Lorna Bogue said, “The portrayal of this afforestation scheme as some kind of climate win by Minister Hackett is as brazen as it is disingenuous. The policy does practically nothing for Irish forests and is in effect a straightforward bailout of Irish timber companies. Portraying it as an example of climate action is greenwashing at its worst and further damages public confidence in climate action.” Clir Bogue continued, “The scheme proposed sees Irish forestry policy as a function of the capital interests of the Irish timber industry. €308 million of grants are to be handed at a 100% rate to timber companies to expand what they have been doing for the last several decades—damaging biodiversity for profit through monoculture farming. The mere fact that such a scheme requires special state aid permission from the Commissions shows its real purpose. “The clear alternative for Ministers McConalogue and Hackett is to fund a national tree nursery for native species, to ban the use of glyphosate and other harmful pesticides and to take woodland back into public ownership for restoration. But these measures would involve genuine climate action in the social interest, something which is clearly not important for Fianna Fail or the Green Party.”
ClIr Liam Sinclair from South Dublin County Council added, “The government has a responsibility to act in the social interest. Irish native forests are in deep decline and are crucial for the maintenance and restoration of habitats and for regulating water supplies upon which producers and consumers depend. People who voted for parties on the basis of environmental policies expect a forestry approach that rolls back unsustainable resource extraction and restores habitats. Instead this programme will reward further blanket cover of unsustainable species such as sitka spruce while claiming that it helps us to reach climate targets. CliIr Sinclair concluded, “Such schemes and their portrayal do little to produce confidence that Irish climate policy is achieving anything other than the expansion of markets for privileged market actors close to the political system.
#biodiversity#afforestation#ireland
Aug 08, 2023, 02:55 PM·Public·Web
0boosts·1favorite
ExploreLive feeds
About