The Carbon Removals Action Group (CRAG) has called for a boycott of all forestry planting until the ownership of carbon sequestration rights from woodland is conceded by Government.

While the group welcomed the announcement of a forestry licence waiver for plantations under 1ha, it maintained that farmers should not plant “a single tree” until the Government acknowledges that all carbon sequestered by woodland is the plantation owner’s property.

“There must also be an acknowledgement by the Government that all removals are the property of whoever creates them,” said John Hourigan of CRAG.

Meanwhile, Fine Gael Senator Tim Lombard has called on State agencies to devise a mechanism for measuring carbon sequestration by soils and hedgerows so that a “true carbon footprint” for each farm can be calculated.

Senator Lombard successfully tabled an amendment to the Climate Action Bill last year which gave due recognition for carbon sequestration.

“What we need to see now is the EPA, Bord Bia and the Department of Agriculture to come up with a method of measuring how much carbon is in our soil and hedgerows and how much they are sequestering ,” Senator Lombard said.

“Bord Bia currently give an indication of carbon emissions but we need to find a way to include the carbon sequestered from soil and hedgerows to give a true carbon footprint for each farm,” he maintained.

“We need to get to a point where each farmer will have a quantitative figure that they can use and ultimately have carbon credits attributed to them and potentially trade,” the Cork-based senator claimed.