National Tree Week will take place from 7-13 March. The theme is ‘Twenty Ten – Plant Again’. We are asking people to make a renewed effort to go out and plant more trees during the week.
The aim of National Tree Week is to raise awareness about trees and encourage local communities and local authorities to participate in over 300 events which will take place around the country during the week. Events are organised all over the country which include forest walks, tree planting ceremonies, workshops, talks, competitions and even tree plantathons!
This year 15,000 trees, sponsored by Coillte will be distributed to community groups by local authorities all over the country – contact your local council for a supply of trees.
Every year a poster competition is held, this year’s winner is Fiona Cooney as student of NCAD, Thomas Street. Posters for the competition will be presented on Wednesday 3 March at Charleville Mall Public Library, North Strand by Éanna Ní Lamhna.
Despite the great advances in the past 100 years, Ireland remains one of the least wooded countries in Europe with only 10% of our land planted with trees compared to the European average of 40%. approx. This initiative will provide thousands of new jobs build our forestry industry and help improve our environment.
Why plant more trees?
•The forest industry is worth €1.65 billion annually.
•It is estimated that more than 10,000 people are employed in the industry mainly in rural Ireland.
•More than 17,000 farmers own and manage farm woodlands.
•Forests absorb carbon dioxide and give us oxygen
•The non timber benefits of forestry include bio-diversity, carbon sequestration, wood biomass energy and recreation.
•Ireland’s forests provide an opportunity to conserve bio-diversity at local and national level.
•Ireland’s forests provide a potential for wood to displace fossil fuels.
•Over 20 million visits are made annually to Irish forests.
•Over 200,000 people use forest trails for exercise.
•Trekking through forests is an important aspect of ‘Walking Tourism’ which attracts 500,000 visitors who spend €138 million annually.
•Wood is uniquely renewable among building material.
Do not despair, even if you have very little space to plant. By doing something as simple as planting one tree, you can play your part in helping the environment.
By thinking locally, we can act globally!
All Tree Week events are free and everyone is welcome to attend.
Nigel
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