Meeting of the Parliament 09 November 2022
As the world gathers in Egypt for COP27, it is easy to forget that just 12 months ago, Scotland hosted COP26, when the Glasgow leaders’ declaration on forests and land use was signed. That committed 145 countries, covering 90 per cent of global forests, to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030. However, unless that commitment in Glasgow is turned into action in Sharm El Sheikh, it will go the same way as the failed 2014 New York declaration on forests to halve deforestation by 2020.
We know that it will not be possible to keep the planet below 1.5 degrees of global warming without stopping deforestation and land degradation. The Glasgow commitment recognised that we have an interest in and a responsibility for what happens beyond our borders and how our actions impact on fragile forests overseas, but it should also focus our minds on what happens within our borders.
The UK remains the second largest net importer of timber in the world, after China, in order to meet our growing consumption of wood products. In fact, we currently import 80 per cent of our timber. Population growth and economic development drive that demand, but so does our desire to transition to low-carbon products—for example, using more wood instead of steel, concrete and bricks in construction.
If our consumption of wood in the UK continues to increase at the same pace as in the past decade, it will rise by an estimated 78 per cent by 2050, at a time when current estimates forecast that, from the 2040s, UK supply will fall. Labour recognises the need for far more ambitious tree planting targets in order to address long-term timber demand, avoid ever-growing imports and, crucially, lock in the other benefits of tree planting for nature, carbon storage and public health. Crucially, we also need to ensure that the targets are met. Although the Government’s aim is to deliver at least 18,000 hectares of trees planted per year by 2024-25, the target of 12,000 for 2022 was missed by nearly 2,000 hectares.
When delivering those targets, we need to deliver the right mix of trees, in the right place. Today, forest and woodland cover 19 per cent of Scotland’s land, but that varies across the country. In Dumfries and Galloway, 31 per cent of the land is covered with woods and forests, making it the most forested part of Scotland. The geography—the land is close to a motorway and rail links to the market—means that, in 211,000 hectares, there is a disproportionate focus on tree species that will meet demand for timber. Although that is important, not least because of the local jobs that are created, it results in pressure on inadequate infrastructure where planting takes place, including roads that were never built for the 40-tonne wagons that are used to remove the timber. Even with the timber transport fund, those roads are badly in need of more investment. It also results in pressure on communities who feel that their landscape is being carpeted by Sitka spruce, with a loss of natural habitat and little or no input from those communities, who want to see more native and broadleaf trees.