Urgent action required to tackle UK tree planting failure

Confor has told a Westminster committee inquiry that the government needs to take urgent action to avoid past failures and rise to the challenge of meeting highly ambitious UK tree planting targets.

The Environment, Food and Rural & Affairs (EFRA) Committee has asked whether the target of 30,000 hectares (about 75,000 acres) of new woodland planting across the UK every year by 2025 can be met. 

Currently, less than 14,000 hectares are being planted annually, with 80% of woodland creation happening in Scotland. 

In its reply, Confor - which represents 1,500 UK forestry and wood-using businesses - says the 30,000 target is “ambitious but achievable” and in line with its own targets, set in 2019. 

However, it notes that the more modest 2015-2020 planting target of 11 million trees (in England only) fell more than 4 million trees short - and quotes a report from the independent Committee on Climate Change  saying “tree planting policy has failed outside of Scotland”. 

Confor’s response calls for:

• An urgent review of processes for tree planting applications and approvals - in line with the successful 2016 Mackinnon Review in Scotland, credited for helping push up planting rates;
• A coordinated UK-wide approach to the 30,000-hectare target, currently not in place;
• Planting targets to be clearly linked to delivering other policy objectives - mitigating climate change, supporting biodiversity and delivering rural jobs and growth;
• Clear targets to use more home-grown wood - the UK is the second highest global net importer of wood after China and using more wood will lock up more carbon;
• A joined-up approach, linking tree planting with increased management of existing woodland and greater wood use in a seed-to-mill approach. 

Confor CEO Stuart Goodall said: “The last government’s tree planting policies failed and fell well short of the target - because previous Ministers did not heed growing calls for more wood-producing forests to help meet demand. Planting more of these forests and using more home-grown timber are now front and centre when we talk about removing atmospheric carbon to start mitigating the impacts of climate change. 

“Since his appointment forestry minister Lord Goldsmith has been taking a positive approach that Confor has welcomed.  He has guaranteed funding for farmers and landowners wanting to plant trees now and consulted on a new England tree strategy. Our industry will work constructively with DEFRA to increase momentum in tree planting. 

Mr Goodall added: “Confor welcomes the ambitious target and the fact it is UK-wide - but there must be clear UK-wide coordination to deliver it. As our response says, that is not happening. The Inter-Ministerial Group for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has met 7 times since the December 2019 election but has not discussed woodland creation once." 

"DEFRA and the Forestry Commission have failed in the past but they can succeed - through strong political leadership, positive collaboration with industry and across the UK, learning from best practice in Scotland and taking a joined-up approach to the whole forestry and wood industry. We look forward to working with Lord Goldsmith, the Forestry Commission and EFRA committee members to move woodland creation in England forward." 

Notes and links

Confor (www.confor.org.uk) is the not-for-profit organisation for the UK’s sustainable forestry and wood-using businesses.  It has 1,500 member companies (half in England), representing the whole forestry and wood supply chain. 

The UK forestry and wood sector is worth £2 billion in annual economic value and employs more than 50,000 people. It has the growth potential to employ many more and deliver far greater economic value while also locking up carbon. 

Confor’s response to the EFRA committee inquiry on tree planting and forestry can be read here.  Terms of reference for the original inquiry (ongoing) can be found via this link.