Ireland’s timber industry needs private and government investments to “realise the potential” offered by ongoing development in the sector, COFORD has said.
Michael Lynn, chairman of COFORD, the National Council for Forest Research and Development, said “the economics of forestry are stacking up as never before”, with mounting interest in biomass and a growing range of wood products emanating from the country.
However, this needs underpinning by “concerted investment by business and the state” in order to “realise the potential of the forest sector, both as land use and as a provider of a huge range of goods and services”.
This will help increase the forestry sector’s €2bn annual contribution to the Irish economy as reported in the organisation’s annual report, where exports accounted for €330m in 2007, and make it “as important as the food sector in the coming decade”.
COFORD’s annual report also reported that Irish forests absorb some four million tonnes of CO2 each year, equating to one tonne for every member of the population and having a key role in tackling climate change.
