6. Ms Nicholl asked the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs for an update on efforts to increase afforestation. (AQO 890/22-27)

Increasing the area of forests and woodlands is a key challenge and focus for my Department. Having more woodlands provides greater opportunity to capture carbon, improve water quality, enhance our environment and our important habitats and extend outdoor access to provide health and well-being benefits for our people. It also provides opportunities for rural employment and contributes to the local economy.

The climate action plan will take forward DAERA’s afforestation commitments in line with its legislative obligations to have a balanced pathway to net zero emissions by 2050. Given the cross-cutting nature of the climate action plan, the draft will need to be approved by the Executive prior to its publication for consultation. I am determined that the draft will be published for consultation as soon as possible. I have met other Ministers to expedite the development of the climate action plan.

My Department continues to support woodland creation under its Forests for Our Future programme, seeking to establish 9,000 hectares of new woodland by 2030. Almost 2,000 hectares of new woodland have been planted since the launch of the programme in 2020. However, there needs to be a significant increase in annual planting rates to meet the challenging target. I am pleased to have opened the 2024 forest expansion scheme application period — in September — and I intend to open a small woodland grant scheme for applications in the forthcoming weeks.

I thank the Minister for his detailed response; I know that he shares my passion for the issue. What is the Minister's assessment of how critical the plans for afforestation are to meeting the challenges presented by the climate and biodiversity crises?

Tree planting is critical. Northern Ireland's woodland cover is low: 8·6% of land area. Compared with other UK countries and with the Republic of Ireland, that is extremely low. We have one of the lowest areas of afforestation in western Europe. We need to take action, and I see a lot of thirst and ambition to do that. One of the challenges is land use. I, with my Department, am exploring how to tackle that.

All woodlands are important for biodiversity, but many of them are small, and they are fragmented across the landscape. Tree planting in order to extend forest areas and join up woodlands at landscape scale, creating habitat networks, will contribute to environmental resilience, provide new and more diverse habitats and support wildlife, and I hope that that is something that everyone can get on board with.