In an attempt to combat climate change, Ireland has announced that it plans to plant 440 million trees over the next 20 years, The Irish Times reported on Sunday.
“The climate action plan commits to delivering an expansion of forestry planting and soil management to ensure that carbon abatement from land-use is delivered over the period 2021 to 2030 and in the years beyond,” an Irish Department of Communications Climate Action and Environment spokeswoman said.
The plan includes planting some 22 million trees every year for the next two decades, with a target of 70 percent conifers and 30 percent broad leaves.
Authorities have acknowledged that there is not much enthusiasm among the farming community for the proposal, so a key part of the plan will be to persuade farmers to designate some of their land for tree planting in the future.
Town-hall-style meetings are also being held throughout the nation by the government to increase support for the plan.
Earlier this year, Scotland announced that it surpassed its goals for tree planting last year, with some 22 million new trees, making what it called a “critical contribution to the global climate emergency,” according to The Scotsman.
In the Irish plan, the government has also proposed a 100,000 increase annually in electric vehicles over the next 10 years to reach almost one million such vehicles by 2030, according to The Irish Times.
Another feature of the proposal is that approximately 50,000 homes will undergo deep retrofits each year.