More than 20,000ha of peatlands which have been rehabilitated by Bord na Móna and Coillte, may not count towards Ireland’s rewetting targets under the Nature Restoration Law.

This could ultimately mean that thousands of hectares of farmed peatlands will have to be rewetted to make up the shortfall.

It has emerged that only lands which are in the process of being rehabilitated when the law is officially enacted by Ireland next month, or peatlands that will be rehabilitated in the future, will qualify for Ireland’s targets.

This means that 17,400ha of peat extraction sites which have already been rehabilitated by Bord na Móna, as well as a further 3,200ha of former forestry plantations on peatlands which have been rehabilitated by Coillte, may not now qualify for Ireland’s targets.

“The Commission stated during the negotiations that any work underway when the regulation comes into force will count towards the targets. The [national] plan will have to determine what counts as ‘underway’,” a spokesperson for the Department of Housing told the Irish Farmers Journal.

The law is due to be officially enacted by Ireland between 12-16 August.

“It doesn’t matter when it [rehabilitation work] started, as long as it’s still under way on 12-16 August, then the works will count [towards the targets],” the spokesperson added.

Under the law, Ireland must restore 36,000ha of drained peatlands by 2030, with 9,600ha of this total having to be rewetted.

By 2040 the target increases to 48,000ha of peatlands to be restored, with 16,000ha rewetted.

The total area increases to 60,000ha of peatlands restored and 20,000ha rewetted by 2050.

Reacting to the news that peatlands already rehabilitated will not count towards Ireland’s targets, INHFA president Vincent Roddy called for an inventory of lands – both State and private – that have already been rehabilitated and rewetted, and an outline of the area still required.