The following is an extract from President Michael D Higgins speech: We all know how vital trees, forests, and woodlands in general, are to our collective future. Forests are not just a resource amenable to commercial exploitation, a source of wood and timber: for so many communities around the world, they are a crucial source of food, fodder, fuel, medicine as well as a rich well of beliefs and traditions; everywhere, forests and woodlands are irreplaceable habitats for wildlife, as well as indispensable carbon sinks and reservoirs. They are, in other words, essential to the maintenance of all forms of life, both social and natural – the two being, of course, deeply interrelated. http://www.president.ie/en/media-library/speeches/speech-at-the-giants-grove-tree-planting-ceremony