The government has approved a climate change adaptation plan for the agriculture, forestry and seafood sectors. 

The plan includes actions in soil and water management, forest diversification, animal and plant health, coastal protection and aquaculture adaptation.

The All Ireland Science Media Centre asked experts to comment. 

Dr Ken Boyle, Sustainability Education Lead, Technological University Dublin, comments; 

“The Agriculture, Forestry and Seafood Sectoral Adaptation Plan (SAP), 2025, outlines the Government’s response to the current and predicted impacts of climate change on food production and forestry in Ireland. Unfortunately, this is not a plan that will make Ireland or the world a better place for future generations.

“The SAP is clear on the range of impacts that are and will in the future impact agriculture, forestry and the marine (seafood) – sea level rise, more flood events, increasing storm intensity, wildfire etc.

“While the plan is to be welcomed, it is good to be talking about the need to adapt, the focus of the work is broadly limited to maintaining the status quo in a changing world. It falls far short of a vision of what sustainable agricultural, forestry and fishing should be.

“The report serves to foster the myth that these activities are currently sustainable and will be for the next 25 years. This is far from the truth. Farmers, foresters and fishermen need support to change how and what it is we are extracting from soils, habitats and the seas and a clear path to sustainability.

“Part of the SAP is to undertake stakeholder engagement, this should be an opportunity for all residents of Ireland to be informed and to examine how we might adapt to and mitigate climate change in the coming years and decades.”

Conflicts of interest: None declared