Policy
The purpose of this section is to give an outline of Forest Service Policy Branch and links to relevant legislation.
Forest Policy Branch is located in Dundonald House working within the Policy and Standards Directorate of Forest Service. The purpose of the Branch is to provide policy advice on a range of issues and to draft and clear subordinate legislation to give effect to policy initiatives.
The Branch has three principal areas of responsibility.
1. Forest Policy
Northern Ireland forest policy is a devolved matter within the UK. Forest Policy Branch has managed a review of forestry policy, undertaking two rounds of public consultation (Forestry in NI June 2002, and Options for Forestry December 2004) and an economic appraisal of the policy. A total of 90 and 110 written responses were received respectively to each round of consultation. The outcome of the review was a Ministerial Written Statement to Parliament in March 2006 and the publication of a forestry strategy for Northern Ireland (NI Forestry : A Strategy for Sustainability and Growth). The consultation documents and responses to these can be accessed on the Consultations section of this website. The forestry strategy can be accessed on the Policy and Standards area of the Publications section.
The outcome of the review was an agreed forestry policy for Northern Ireland which provides for :-
- the sustainable management of existing woods and forests; and
- a steady expansion of tree cover to increase the many benefits that forests provide.
The Forestry Strategy tasks Forest Service to maintain the supply of timber from its forests, to restore areas of forest exploited for timber subject to addressing wider environmental objectives, to promote the use of forests for informal public recreation, to promote a programme of afforestation and to sustainably manage existing woods and forests.
The Forestry Strategy also identifies the need to:
- change the existing Forestry Act to more closely reflect the tasks required of Forestry Service; and
- prepare and publish more detailed strategies, in consultation with stakeholders, on a range of specific issues. We intend to consult on a Strategy for the Social Use of Forests in the summer of 2007.
2. Plant Health Protection
Forest Service has policy responsibility for the protection of Northern Ireland’s plant health status in relation to wood and bark. Several pieces of legislation provide the means by which that policy is implemented.
- The Plant Health (Wood and Bark) Order (NI) 2006 transposes Council Directive 2000/29/EC and other related Council Directives. The Order consolidated and amended existing measures to prevent the introduction into and spread within Northern Ireland of serious pests and diseases of plants and plant products. These measures include the power to carry out physical, identity and documentary checks at the point of entry and the format of phytosanitary certificates and plant passports to be used when wood and bark is imported into or exported from Northern Ireland. The full text of the Order can be accessed from the link below.
- The Plant Health (Import Inspection Fees) (Wood & Bark) Regulations (NI) 2005 also implement part of Council Directive 2000/29/EC, which required member states to charge fees to cover the costs arising from physical, identity and documentary checks of imports of wood and bark from third countries (outside the EU). The full text of the Regulations can be accessed from the link below.
- The Regulations also apply charges to consignments of specified wood subject to emergency measures under the Plant Health (Wood and Bark) (Phytophthora ramorum) Order (NI) 2005 which transposes Council Decision 2002/757/EC and other related Decisions. The Order contains measures to prevent the introduction into and spread within Northern Ireland of Phytophthora ramorum more commonly known as Sudden Oak Death. It places controls on the importation of susceptible wood from the USA, requiring such wood to be accompanied by phytosanitary certificates. The full text of the Order can be accessed from the link below.
3. Environmental Impact Assessment
Forest Service also has policy responsibility for assessing the impact certain forestry operations have on the environment of forests. The Environmental Impact Assessment (Forestry) Regulations (NI) 2006 implement Council Directive 85/337/EEC and several related Directives. They require forest owners (including the Department) to consider the environmental impact of afforestation and deforestation projects, building of forest roads and creation of quarries within forests. Where the Department is of the view that there is an environmental impact, an assessment will have to be completed by the forest owner and the public given the opportunity to input their views to the Department before a decision to allow the operation to proceed is given. The full text of the Order can be accessed from the link below.
Related Links
