SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, & MATHEMATICS The FOREST project Dr Martha O’Hagen Luff explains how this award winning project is making nature part of the national conversation Tree-planting is rapidly emerging as a key dimension of the Irish government’s climate action plan to attain net zero carbon status by 2050. Through their role in carbon storage and sequestration, forests are seen as a low-cost climate mitigation solution, and this is driving ambitious planting targets, both nationally and internationally, and attracting public and private investment. All of this is hugely positive - but tackling climate change goes well beyond carbon. Forests help reduce the risk of floods, landslides and other extreme events; they support biodiversity and protect the watersheds that supply freshwater. Walking, running, or playing in forests brings significant health benefits and renewed engagement with nature. Afforestation can be transformative for the environment and the economy, and for our health and happiness, but too often it is assessed through a single lens such as carbon sequestration, renewable energy or sustainable building. Nature is rarely straightforward and never silo’d. The type of trees, and how quickly they grow, and what ecosystems they support, and where they are planted, affect their real ecological, economic and societal sustainability credentials. An understanding of different perspectives on the value of extending forest networks with native species, and on the benefits of nature in the widest sense, is key to successful afforestation. Forests have to be placed front and centre in climate action plans, nationally and internationally, and nature must be part of the conversation. The FOREST project, funded by the Kinsella Challenge-based E3 Multidisciplinary Project Awards, is using the case of forestry in Ireland as a model system to explore the challenges associated with addressing climate and biodiversity issues, and to develop solutions that are socially just, ecologically sound and economically viable. Crucially - given the interdependencies between the economy, society and nature - this research is conducted across both the social sciences and natural sciences. As part of Trinity’s Environment, Engineering and Emerging Technologies (E3) initiative, FOREST brings
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