Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue and Minister of State for Land Use and Biodiversity, Pippa Hackett joined Stephen Watkins. He is Managing Director, Boots Ireland and Team Members in Kilnavara, Co. Cavan as Boots began their initiative to plant 15,000 native woodland trees. These include Oak, Scots Pine, Birch and Hazel over across the 11-acre site in celebration of their 25 years of business in Ireland.
The initiative is being carried out in partnership with the Department of Agriculture, Food, and the Marine’s Woodland Environment Fund.
The WEF
The WEF provides an access point for individual businesses to help expand Ireland’s native woodland resource. This is by providing additional incentives to encourage landowners to plant new native woodlands. They may not have otherwise planted them, had that additional support not been provided.
Native woodlands are an integral part of Ireland’s natural heritage, history, and culture. They are unique in terms of their biodiversity. They are home to a host of specialised woodland animals and plants. This includes red squirrel, pine marten, great spotted woodpecker, narrow-leaved helleborine and wood millet, to name but a few. The trees provide numerous ecosystem services. This is including the protection and enhancement of water quality, wider habitat linkage, landscape enhancement. In addition to opportunities for outdoor recreation and interpretation, and carbon capture.
Speaking at the event, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Charlie McConalogue TD said: “We have set ambitious targets as a country to plant native trees in Ireland each year. Encouraging our native Irish biodiversity to flourish is highly important. I am delighted to see a company such as Boots supporting the Department of Agriculture-led Woodland Environment Fund. It is important that companies and individuals play their part in reducing the amount of carbon we emit. I commend Boots and the team for all their hard work.”
Minister of State for Land Use and Biodiversity spoke about the trees
Pippa Hackett added: ‘As Minister responsible for Forestry, I am delighted to see Boots interact with our Woodland Environment Fund. It’s a fund which demonstrates the best of public private partnership. It offers firms the opportunity to top up payments to farmers and landowners who commit to Department funded forestry.’
“We are delighted to be celebrating 25 years of business in Ireland. Our first store opened in the Jervis Street Shopping Centre, and we now have 90 stores nationwide. We are firmly committed to our customers and patients in the communities in which we serve,” commented Stephen Watkins, Managing Director, Boots Ireland.
“Today, as we begin to plant these native Irish trees, we are proud that this is another action on our continued journey to environmental sustainability. Last year our stores and support office reached a goal of operating on 100% renewable energy and reaching 0% of waste to landfill.
We have also reached a significant milestone in our products’ environmental sustainability journey. In 2020 we eliminated 2,020 tonnes of plastic from our Christmas gift ranges by completely removing single-use plastic packaging, and in 2021 we saw many sustainable product innovations”, he continued.
Jane McGovern, owner of the site in Kilnavara, commented:
“It’s fantastic that Boots Ireland have come on board with their genuine interest in expanding Ireland’s native woodlands trees and enhancement of natural biodiversity. We hope that in a few years with their support, we will have a beautiful native woodland habitat within walking distance of Cavan Town that the local community can benefit from.”
As part of its ongoing commitment to sustainability, Boots Ireland is proud to have been recertified for Business in the Community’s (BITC) Business Working Responsibly Mark for the fourth year, while in 2021 the business signed up to the BITC Low Carbon Pledge. This is the first dedicated pledge generated by Irish business to set industry standards on sustainability and reduce carbon emissions.
Boots Ireland fully understand businesses must play a major role in reaching the global carbon reduction targets to maintain global temperatures at less than 1.5C below pre-industrial levels. The company is committed to doing its part and are proud signatories of the pledge, along with 67 other Irish businesses.
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