Minister Heydon launches public consultation on draft 2025 Sectoral Adaptation Plan for the Agriculture, Forestry and Seafood Sectors
- Published on: 7 August 2025
- Last updated on: 7 August 2025
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon TD, today launched a public consultation process on the draft 2025 Sectoral Adaptation Plan for the Agriculture, Forestry and Seafood sectors.
Launching the public consultation, Minister Heydon said:
"I am very pleased to launch this public consultation for the 2025 edition of the Sectoral Adaptation Plan. We have made considerable progress in mainstreaming adaptation into policy development, with climate change adaptation referenced as a key enabler in Ireland's Forest Strategy 2023-2030, Food Vision 2030, CAP Strategic Plan and the National Strategic Plan for Sustainable Aquaculture Development 2030. Adaptation is also embedded in our Climate Action Plans."
Climate change adaptation is the ongoing process of adjusting to current or anticipated effects of climate change. It is not a one-off emergency response, but a strategic and proactive effort to build the resilience of our economy, communities, and ecosystems. Effective adaptation aims to reduce the long-term costs of climate-related disruptions while seizing any new opportunities that a changing climate may present. This process includes preparing for a range of climate-related events—such as floods, fodder shortages, and increasingly severe storms affecting harbours, forests, and other vulnerable sectors.
The Minister went on to say that:
"In addition to reducing our emissions, we need to ensure that our food production system is resilient and ready to adapt to future climate risks. Farmers, landowners, and fishermen are very much to the forefront of dealing with the impacts of a changing climate in their everyday activities. However, climate change is not just an issue for the primary producer; it is something that everyone in the production chain needs to consider. The Irish agriculture, forestry and seafood sectors will not only be impacted by changes in climate here at home, but also by climate change globally."
The draft 2025 Sectoral Adaptation Plan highlights a number of case studies identifying how the sectors have and will continue to be impacted by changing weather patterns and steps towards building resilience.
Feedback on the Plan and suggestions as to how this Department and the Sectors themselves can best prepare to operate in a changing climate should be submitted before the closing date of Thursday, 4 September 2025.
Notes for Editors
On 5 June 2024, Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications published Ireland’s second statutory National Adaptation Framework (NAF), replacing the original 2018 framework. This update, required under the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act (Amendment) 2021, sets out the national strategy for reducing climate vulnerability and capitalising on potential opportunities.
The NAF identified fourteen key sectors required to prepare sectoral adaptation plans. The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is responsible for three of the sectors identified – Agriculture, Forestry and Seafood.
The revised 2024 NAF includes comprehensive guidance for SAP development. These guidelines promote a consistent, evidence-based approach grounded in best practice and the latest climate data, particularly from Met Éireann’s TRANSLATE project, which standardises climate projections to support risk-informed decision-making. Departments are also expected to use the National Climate Change Risk Assessment and accompanying technical guidance to prioritise key risks and adaptation responses.
The Department published its first Sectoral Adaptation Plan in 2019, which focused on the mainstreaming of adaptation across the Department and ensuring adaptation is considered for future policy development. The work undertaken as part of the development of that document provided the basis for the development of the current Plan.
The current SAP has incorporated improvements from the 2019 version and includes: a stronger integration of climate risk assessment, measurable smart adaptation indicators, and alignment with national policy frameworks such as the National Climate Change Risk Assessment. The Sectoral Adaptation Plan also focuses on cross sectoral synergies, Just Transition, and nature-based solutions, whilst avoiding maladaptation.
The Department has made substantial progress in embedding climate adaptation across its policy framework. Adaptation and resilience are now core elements of the Forest Strategy, Climate Action Plan, the National Strategic Plan for Sustainable Aquaculture Development and Food Vision 2030 Strategy.
The Overall Adaptation Goal of this statutory Plan is to build resilience to the effects of climate change and weather-related events in the agriculture, Forestry and Seafood sectors, to reduce any negative impacts where possible, to take advantage of any opportunities and to contribute to the achievement of the Department’s Statement of Strategy Goals.
The plan includes case studies to highlight some examples of the impact of future climate change projections on the sectors and steps towards building resilience to deal with these impacts. By taking steps to reduce exposure to present climate variability we can inform future climate adaptation requirements and increase resilience.
Consultation:
This consultation is part of a series of consultations as part of the Department’s approach to inclusive policy development.
The consultation will be open for four weeks – the closing date is Thursday, 4 September 2025.
The Draft Plan is available at Public Consultation on the draft Sectoral Adaptation Plan for Agriculture, Forestry and Seafood 2025
Queries in relation to the consultation can be submitted by email to adaptation2025@agriculture.gov.ie