'What is called for is a consistent departure from plantation forestry and a radical shift towards a management that treats the forest as an ecosystem and no longer as a wood factory".
hus concluded an open letter from 76 German forest experts to that country's minister for agriculture last month, among them Peter Wohlleben, author of the global bestseller The Hidden Life of Trees.
The letter followed news that swathes of German forests are dying from a combination of heat, drought, fires, beetle plagues, fungal infestations and storms.
Climate change is heaping pressure on decades of poor management, said the scientists, who have called for a restoration of natural processes in forestry and a 'nature needs half' approach.
Approximately 32pc of Germany is forest; it is a country with a tradition of silviculture dating back to the Middle Ages.
Yet if Germany's forestry is like an adult with a chronic illness, then Ireland's is more like a demanding, over-indulged teenager.
A commercial investor in forestry must always take the long view - even 'fast-growing' trees may take 50 years to reach a size worth cashing in on.
Our world in 50 years is likely to be unrecognisable from today's given impending climate collapse and ecological breakdown - making any investment decidedly high-risk.
Trees after all, even the non-native ones, rely on complex natural processes, dependent upon everything from interactions with fungi in the soil to changing weather patterns.
Despite the best efforts of the forestry industry, they cannot be churned out like plastic dolls in a factory.
Ireland's forestry model only developed in the 1950s and has come at enormous cost to our landscapes, ecology and rural communities.
'Fast furniture'
It's a system that is hooked on toxic chemical sprays and clearing whole forests in one swing of the scythe, all to produce a low-quality product for 'fast furniture' outlets.
It has failed to win the support of communities which feel powerless in the face of unwanted changes to land use.
The trees used have been overwhelmingly non-native conifers, species described by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (our state's authority for nature conservation) as "of lower, if not zero biodiversity value".
Only last month, in a report to the European Commission, they identified forestry as one of the chief threats to our most protected habitats and species, citing in particular the precipitous decline of curlews and hen harriers.
The Environmental Protection Agency has identified forestry as a significant pressure on waterbodies which are 'at risk' and the main pressure on our high-status waterbodies.
At best, we don't know what plantation forestry does to the soil but compaction by heavy machinery, changes to soil chemistry and loss of biodiversity are likely to be ruinous.
Growing trees and the restoration of natural ecosystems are our greatest allies in our response to the climate and biodiversity emergencies as well as being worthy goals in themselves.
Rewilding, to create new native woodlands and wetlands on bogs, uplands and along river corridors would be the cheapest, easiest, most popular and most effective way of helping in this task.
Paying landowners
Trees should be allowed to plant themselves in these areas as well as being planted on farms and in towns and cities - and we should be paying landowners to do this.
We need to convert all our monoculture plantations to native woodlands, leaving most of them to nature in perpetuity.
We should also be developing an indigenous timber industry which can help to provide local employment and valuable, near carbon-neutral building materials.
However, this must recognise that the industry fits within a natural system - not the other way around.
Trees have evolved over a mind-bending 350 million years. They have developed in complex relationships with uncountable other organisms as well as the soil, water and climate around them.
They are the supreme carbon-capture and storage technology. They stabilise our climate, regulate and purify water and have provided people with food, materials and medicines for all of our (relatively short) history.
The climate/biodiversity emergency demands that all our industries be transformed from taking what we want from nature and then spitting out the waste - to ones which actively contribute to the restoration of Earth's natural systems.
An industry that doesn't recognise that is one which has no future and certainly is not one I'd invest in.
Irish taxpayers' money is currently being squandered on a forestry model that is failing on nearly every measure.
It's a model that claims that monoculture plantations are the only commercially viable option, even though it is dependent upon hundreds of millions of euros of public money.
Our money should only be going to enterprises which nourish, and contribute to, the health of communities and ecosystems.
Forestry companies are uniquely placed to contribute to this transformation and should get on board.
'Timber is the ultimate renewable resource and forestry is the ultimate carbon sink'
Mark McAuley
Sitka spruce is a great tree. It grows fast and straight and true. It is the perfect tree for making the timber products we need. That is why there is a strong market for Sitka spruce timber and why there is a good return to the landowner for growing it.
Commercial viability and economics go hand in hand with sustainability.
It is because of the healthy market for timber products that we have an active afforestation programme in Ireland. Farmers receive grants that cover the cost of planting and get forest premiums that total €76,500 for 10ha over 15 years for a typical-managed forest.
At clear fell, after perhaps 30 years, the farmer has a very valuable crop, a tax-free pay-out and a ready market in Ireland's sawmills.
It is the strong market for Sitka spruce products that has enabled Ireland to grow an industry that is worth €2.3 billion annually to the Irish economy, creates 12,000 jobs, exports over €500m per annum to the UK and is growing fast, with a bright future.
In the next 15 years, the harvesting of Sitka spruce managed forests will deliver billions of euro to farmers all around the country as their forests mature. Along the way, more jobs will be created in local communities for forestry workers, harvesters, hauliers and timber processors.
The tree is an excellent additional enterprise to the farm, allowing the farmer to spend their time on their other farm enterprises while the Sitka grows strongly, adding value with every year of growth.
Biodiversity
Commercial forests are not optimised for biodiversity. But that is not to say that a managed forest lacks biodiversity.
A commercial forest passes through a number of stages from planting to final harvest, and each stage has its advantages for various flora and fauna. Many bird species thrive at different stages - and bird species that are not found outside forests can be found in Sitka forests.
Mammals such as foxes, badgers, squirrels and pine martens are present in abundance. Insect species abound, as do mosses, lichens and fungi. Sustainable forest management practices protect biodiversity.
Compared to other land uses, there are very little chemical inputs into forests over the rotation. This protects and encourages many species of both fauna and flora.
Diverse species
Today's new forests must set aside at least 15pc of their area for biodiversity, plus an additional 15pc area for diverse tree species. Through the national forestry programme, at least 30pc of all planting each year must be broadleaves.
In this way, the planting of Sitka is driving and subsidising the planting of millions of broadleaf trees every year. Our commercial forestry is the main driver of broadleaf woodlands.
Climate change
Ireland's forests have absorbed over 300 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, and they are adding to this at a rate of over 3.6 million tonnes each year.
They are a massive carbon sink, and a vital tool in combatting climate change.
In terms of absorbing carbon dioxide and helping the fight against climate change, managed forests have advantages over natural forests.
Firstly, our managed conifer forests grow much faster than naturally regenerating forests and absorb much more carbon dioxide in a shorter period of time.
More importantly, when a Sitka spruce forest is harvested, the timber goes into long-life timber products that continue to lock away all that carbon. The forest is then replanted on the same site and you get more carbon being absorbed by the new trees.
This process of producing timber products from managed forests is a highly effective carbon capture and storage technique. In fact, it has been identified as by far the single greatest tool we have at our disposal to tackle climate change.
Building with wood
Virtually every Irish home has Irish timber in it. However, we need to build more with wood. Timber construction is a huge environmental opportunity since timber is a renewable material that locks away carbon.
We need to grow the right trees to provide timber for construction. In Ireland, that tree is Sitka Spruce. It is ideal for the construction market. Timber-frame houses and larger residential and commercial buildings can be constructed quickly and cost-effectively with today's timber construction methods and new cross-laminated timber (CLT) technologies.
Across Europe, tall timber buildings are springing up as the technology has come of age, and the environmental benefits of building with timber become ever more important. Timber is the ultimate renewable resource, the ultimate carbon sink and the more of it we use, the more forests will be planted.
That is the virtuous circle of forestry and timber.
Mark McAuley is director of IBEC's Forest Industries Ireland group
