Meet Maurice Ryan: Green Belt
Maurice Ryan is the Director of Business Development for Green Belt, Ireland’s largest private forestry management group. Green Belt operates a 4 year management contract specifically designed for farmers and landowners who wish to plant a new forest.
With the International Day of Forests just behind us, we were thrilled to have the opportunity to ask Maurice more about what is involved in establishing an Irish Forest with Greenbelt, the challenges faced as a business balancing both environmental and economical interests as well as his perspectives on the future of forestry and sustainability.
KOKORO: What was the catalyst for starting Green Belt?
Green Belt was set up in 1982 by Mossie Ryan (my father) and his business partner Tim O'Brien. It was created in response to a demand from Investment agencies looking to secure clients wealth and deliver a strong, long term return for them.
KOKORO: What is involved in the process of establishing a forest with Green Belt?
Establishing a forest in Ireland is a complex procedure.
Green Belt can source the lands suitable for your forestry project and complete the application process with the Forest Service (FS), the regulatory body for the Industry, (administered by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine).
Once an approval is received from the FS, Green Belt will set about preparing the lands using local contractors. It is essential the right tree is planted in the right place and that is where our professional foresters’ skill and expertise come to the fore.
We are establishing an Increasingly large area of native hardwoods across the country - oak, beech, alder, hawthorn, cherry etc., as forestry is valued as much for its amenity virtue nowadays, as its commercial value.
There is a government grant that covers all your establishment costs for your forest, and for the 1st 15 years, there is an annual premium paid to the forest owner too. This is a tax-free premium, valued up to €680 per hectare, each year, for 15 years.
A short video that explains the life cycle of forestry:
KOKORO: What do you think the roadblocks were for establishing a program like this in the past?
Regulation and licensing have always been and continues to be a hurdle that is difficult to overcome across the industry.
Currently, the FS are significant roadblock to the planting of new forests across the country. the current planting rate Is c. 2,500 hectares versus the idea of 8,000 hectares as encouraged by all parties in government. this Is highly frustrating and Is negatively impacting the numbers employed rurally in the forestry industry.
In the longer term too, the ultimate supply of timber to the market will be affected, leading to imports of timber from International sources.
KOKORO: You’ve managed to solve an environmental problem with an economical solution, do you think this is possible for most businesses? Why or why not?
In my opinion, most, if not all solutions need a commercial aspect to them. To make them attractive and viable in the long term, stakeholders need an opportunity to earn from these to further invest into the concept.
Forestry will continue to thrive across Ireland with a healthy mix of commercial and woodland forestry projects. When people consider forestry, they look to how it can protect wealth and generate income across its term.
Other businesses need to consider the value they are offering to those looking to offset their carbon and create a structure that delivers value to their clients but also some that makes their initiatives sustainable commercially, environmentally and socially.
However, as more companies are making this transition, there are also those guilty of green washing – i.e., over promising results and impacts and charging exorbitant fee’s for delivering little value. It is important that projects supported by the public have independent verification and not just sound good.
KOKORO: What challenges did you face while establishing this business?
While establishing the business faced numerous struggles, not least the decision to exit the market by our 2 main clients on the same day, Green Belt has been instrumental in the shaping of the forestry industry as it is seen today.
We are still challenged by the FS and their inability to deliver on licences to the industry to increase and improve the forest cover and management of the existing estate. And over the last number of years, there are an increasing number of dissenters to forestry. Most of their arguments are based on historical issues that have been amended and improved drastically. When you look at any application within forestry, it is necessary to go through a much more detailed and rigorous assessment than any other agricultural process, despite being one of, if not the most, beneficial tools we have as a country to offset the nations carbon emissions.
KOKORO: Where do you find your ‘Zen’, meaning how do you recharge and reset?
My job affords me the ultimate luxury of going to walk through a forest as part of my job. I find when things are mounting up, time spent in forests, walking and considering all the issues, my head is a lot clearer as a result. This has been really brought home to me, and how lucky I am, during the pandemic and restrictions. I speak with people who are unable to leave their homes and have been restricted for months. The time I can get to travel to and explore the forests we manage is time I value greatly.
KOKORO: What is the best lesson you’ve learned while protecting the planet?
I think it must be to ‘keep it simple, and work together.’ Having others to thrash ideas out with and to help deliver on them is absolutely essential and if they all share the same common goal – to enhance biodiversity and capture and store carbon – then our task is made even simpler.
Oh, and listen!! That’s unbelievably important!!!
KOKORO: What does a balanced future, where economy and ecology are both taken into consideration, look like to you?
To me it looks like an area full of opportunity and evolution of ideas. Ireland is a hot bed of wonderful ingenuity and the potential to reduce the usage of fossil fuels is massive. This needs private industry to come together across a broad range of industries to prove it works and get government buy in to deliver it on the broadest scale possible.
From our perspective, the forestry journey is really only beginning as we continue to explore the untapped values that exist within our woodlands and timber and how managing these sustainably, in rural communities, will enhance the quality of life for the entire country.
To learn more, visit https://www.greenbelt.ie/
