Limerick Enterprise Development Partnership (LEDP) will support the planting of 7,700 native Irish woodland trees in County Limerick this month to celebrate National Tree Week. The annual event, a week-long programme from 19th March to 26th March, is running with the theme ‘biodiversity begins with trees’ this year.
LEDP has committed to embracing the UN Sustainable Development Goals as part of its strategic plan and has stated its intention to plant 27,000 trees by 2026. This will offset over 4,000 tonnes of carbon emissions over a 100-year period, whilst also supporting the promotion of biodiversity. Biodiversity supports everything in nature that humans need to survive like food and clean water. The UN has declared that biodiversity is declining at an unprecedented rate, and the pressures driving this decline are intensifying. To date, LEDP has initiated the planting of over 17,000 trees including Pedunculate Oak, Scots Pine, and White Thorn.
Niall O’Callaghan, Chief Executive, LEDP said “At LEDP we want to meet our environmental responsibilities by preserving biodiversity and reducing our carbon footprint. Trees have the biggest role to play in slowing down biodiversity loss as they - through photosynthesis - provide food for the many animal food chains that depend on them as well as for the decomposers that ultimately break them down. We are delighted to support this initiative which will have a long-lasting positive impact for our community and region.”
LEDP is supporting the planting programme through the Department of Agriculture’s Woodland Environment Fund (WEF). The trees will be planted in County Limerick as identified by LEDP’s partner SWS Forestry Services. The native tree plantations will create a wildlife corridor for native species and enable grassland to revert to more natural vegetation, further enhancing biodiversity in the area.
