Alliance spokesperson on the environment, John Blair MLA, has welcomed the commitment from the Minister for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs to increase the number of trees planted in Northern Ireland.

John Blair said: “There is a global focus on the environment and the climate emergency we are all facing. There are many ways we can help to fight this emergency and the planting of trees is one of the most straightforward, but effective.

“Across Northern Ireland we have only around 8% of our area in woodland. This is one of the lowest in Europe and I believe we urgently need to increase this. I welcome the commitment the Minister gave to me in the Assembly Chamber that he supports the planting of additional trees to help improve our environment. Around 2 million trees are planted in Northern Ireland each year and I would urge the Minister to provide the resources to increase this substantially.”