Woods and forests absorb atmospheric carbon and can store it for centuries. Trees can also help to prevent flooding and keep soil nutrient rich. It’s therefore a big concern that Northern Ireland is one of the least wooded regions in Europe.
It has only 9 per cent woodland cover, according to the Woodland Trust, compared with 11 per cent in Ireland, 13 per cent across the UK and 38 per cent in the EU.
In March 2020 the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs committed to planting 18 million trees over 10 years – 10 trees would be planted for every person living in Northern Ireland. Described as the department’s “biggest and most ambitious plan to improve and sustain our forests and contribute to economic growth”, the pledge was to create 9,000 hectares of new woodland by 2030.
However, almost five years later, the department has confirmed the afforestation programme, Forests for Our Future, has planted only about four million trees. Nearly 2,000 hectares of new woodland has been created, so there’s a long way to go.
“Increasing the area of forests and woodlands is a key challenge and focus for the department,” a department spokesperson said. “We need to significantly accelerate annual planting rates to reach 12 per cent of land area by 2050, which currently stands at 8.6 per cent.”
There are, however, some chinks of light coming through the trees we do have. Minnowburn within Lagan Valley Regional Park is an important woodland haven on the edge of the city of Belfast. The National Trust site is unique in UK forestry as it’s the first – and so far, only – verified UK Woodland Carbon Code project in Northern Ireland.
The code, launched in 2011, is the UK’s government backed standard for woodland carbon projects. It provides the mechanism for landowners to attract carbon funding to support woodland creation projects on their land. Projects are independently verified and carbon units held in a credible registry. It offers a way for companies to support woodland creation, compensate for unavoidable emissions and help the UK to become net zero by 2050.
All projects must be placed on the UK Land Carbon Registry. Validated projects are then verified on a regular basis to confirm the progress of carbon sequestration.
The Minnowburn project got under way in 2011 when 19,500 mixed species trees were planted to expand woodland cover and create an oasis for wildlife. It was predicted that this extended woodland would remove 2,928 tonnes of atmospheric carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) over 100 years.
The National Trust’s countryside manager for Belfast, Craig Somerville, was supported by the local community and contractors to do the planting in Minnowburn across two fields totalling 8.5 hectares.
“There has been rapid growth of the trees since 2011; they are doing well,” he says. “We have been thinning out over the last two years to give them some space to get a bit of width and room. If you keep them too tight, they just want to grow straight up to the light and could become really thin and tall and not particularly well rooted.
“The end game is a natural woodland. Because it’s a woodland planted by humans, you have to thin out and create that open space and allow the trees room.”
The beauty of Belfast is that you can escape the city very easily and come somewhere very peaceful like this
The project faced a serious challenge when ash dieback – a serious fungal disease – started killing ash trees across Europe. Forty-four per cent of the trees planted in Minnowburn as part of the Woodland Carbon Code project were ash trees. However, Somerville is determined to highlight the positives that came from losing thousands of trees to this disease.
“We are planting in where the ash are dying, putting in oak trees beside them to try to mitigate those losses. It’s going to be okay and was one of those things we couldn’t have seen coming. If we don’t replace trees, it is creating nice wee glades, which can be important from a conservation perspective. For a wood to sequester carbon, it’s also good to have a mixed-age structure. You don’t want all trees in a woodland to be the same age.”
Minnowburn is “a youngster” in woodland terms, he notes. Birds have started nesting in the trees, some woodlands plants and flowers are gradually coming in and the new paths are being enjoyed by butterflies, which like to flutter along the forest edge. But the wood will not come into its peak until it is about 100 years old. Somerville and his team manage it while always thinking about the long term.
It’s not just plants and animals benefiting from the Minnowburn project. Local people are making good use of the all-weather walking paths totalling almost one kilometre added to improve public access. The woodland also forms an important link to local Neolithic earthwork henge monument the Giant’s Ring.
As well as the mental and physical health benefits that come with accessing green spaces, visitors can take a break from walking to lie on forest bathing beds and admire the tree canopy above. It’s a view Somerville is very familiar with.
“I am an old-time woodland guy and tree safety surveyor. I get a sore neck walking in the woodlands from always looking up at the canopy, but a lot of people walk around looking straight ahead. Every time I see someone lying down on the beds it puts a smile on my face.”
Minnowburn has “a wee charm”, he concludes. “It’s a place for nature and people to have a good time in. The beauty of Belfast is that you can escape the city very easily and come somewhere very peaceful like this. Trees are brilliant for sucking up CO2 and cleaning the air so having good woodlands around the city is vital.”
Forest Carbon is a project developer for UK voluntary emission reduction projects. In addition to supporting Minnowburn’s tree planting, it sourced private funding for the project through the sale of credits to an organisation looking to compensate for its emissions at a later date.
The single buyer, which has not been identified, purchased the full allocation of available credits from the created woodland, which will be delivered over the project duration as the trees sequester carbon.
One of Forest Carbon’s founders, James Hepburne-Scott, adds: “Minnowburn demonstrates the careful stewardship needed to build resilient ecosystems. When ash trees succumbed to dieback disease, they were thoughtfully replaced with locally sourced oak, ensuring the woodland’s future. This project is a powerful example of how collaboration can restore nature and tackle the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss.”
There are 113 Woodland Carbon Code projects in Northern Ireland and 2,099 across the UK. Once fully verified, predicted carbon removal can be converted into woodland carbon units which can be bought by businesses.
Forest carbon stock is the amount of carbon that has been sequestered from the atmosphere and is now stored within the forest ecosystem, mainly within living biomass and soil, and to a lesser extent also in dead wood and litter.
According to Forest Research, the research agency of the Forestry Commission, almost half (46 per cent) of the estimated total UK forest carbon stock in 2025 is in Scotland (sequestering 1.9 billion tonnes of CO2e), 41 per cent in England (1.7 billion tonnes), 10 per cent in Wales (0.4 billion tonnes) and 3 per cent in Northern Ireland (0.1 billion tonnes).
The Woodland Trust Northern Ireland country director, Lynsey Nixon, also stresses the importance of woods and trees for people, nature and climate.
“Trees clean our air, they absorb pollutants like carbon dioxide, store carbon and release oxygen into the atmosphere,” she says. “Trees reduce soil erosion, improve water quality, and help prevent flooding by absorbing excess water. They also provide homes for wildlife.
“A single species of oak can provide a home for up to 2,300 species during the course of its life. Even dead wood and fallen leaves support biodiversity. To increase tree cover in Northern Ireland, we need to pursue a mix of approaches at a variety of scales appropriate to the landscape.”
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