Despite its green image, forests make up just 11% of the Irish landscape. Across Europe the average figure is 35%, making Ireland one of the countries with the least tree cover on the continent. Given that trees once covered up to 80% of the island, their loss, predominantly due to clearance for agriculture during the neolithic period, has left Ireland with the agro-centric landscape we know today. But at what cost?

This talk will explore the historic and cultural links between Irish people and trees as well as looking at the current political and policy landscape that will attempt to restore at least some of these trees in the interests of commerce, climate change mitigation and adaptation and protecting biodiversity.

The Irish Tree Explorers Project (ITEN) is a Science Foundation Ireland project which aims to foster public engagement with trees and historic tree collections across Ireland. It is through this sort of engagement that we can encourage a love of, and respect for Irish trees and forests. This is turn, can influence policy, not just on traditional ‘rural’ forests but also our ‘urban forests’ – our street trees in cities and towns which have their own unique advantages for creating health, sustainable cities.

The talk will showcase some of the tree collections being utilised in the project, including UCC Arboretum, Co. Cork; Coole Park, Co. Galway (the home of Lady Gregory); Avondale, Co. Wicklow (the birthplace of Charles Stewart Parnell) and the JFK Arboretum, Co. Wexford (near to the ancestral home of the former US president).

Dr Eoin Lettice is a plant scientist at the School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences (BEES) and the Environmental Research Institute (ERI) at University College Cork. He is an academic advisor to the UCC Arboretum and leads the Irish Tree Explorers (ITEN) project. His research interests include sustainable agriculture, urban biodiversity, and soil ecology.