merrion street

The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed TD, today launched a public consultation process on a draft plan for climate change adaptation in the agriculture and forest sector.
Launching the plan Minister Creed said “My Department, its agencies and industry are committed to promoting the long term environmental sustainability of Irish agriculture. As well as being an influencing element, the Irish agriculture and forest sector is also reliant on environmental and climatic factors, therefore adapting to changes in climate is crucial for the continued sustainable development of the sector. The draft plan is now available on the Department's website and I invite the public and stakeholders to get involved in this process, and to make their submissions over the coming weeks”.
The consultation document is available on the Department’s website at:
http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/ruralenvironment/climatechangebioenergybiodiversity/adaptation/
Submissions on the draft can be emailed to climatechange@agriculture.gov.ie

The deadline for receipt of submissions is Friday 27 January 2017

Note for Editors
Prior to the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015, the National Climate Change Adaptation Framework (NCCAF) set out the requirement for the development and implementation of sectoral and local adaptation action plans. The framework identified the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) as the lead department charged with the development of the marine, agriculture and forest Sectoral Adaptation Plans. These adaptation plans will precede the adaptation plan requirements of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015 but will be important to informing reports to the EU adaptation strategy.
The DAFM agriculture and forest sectoral adaptation plan seeks to identify vulnerabilities and adaptation options to strengthen the resilience of the sector to the changing climate.
A marine sectoral plan is being prepared separately.
Respondents should be aware that the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine is bound by the Freedom of Information legislation and if confidential or commercially sensitive information is included in submissions it should be clearly identified. The Department also reserves the right to publish the submissions received (subject to the redaction of clearly identified confidential or commercially sensitive information) as part of its response to this consultation.