Woodland Trust sets out priorities for Woodland Creation Summit

Woodland Trust Scotland has set out its priorities ahead of a Scottish Government summit this month.

The Scottish Government is hosting a Woodland Creation Summit on 12 December. Chaired by the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Mairi Gougeon MSP, the summit will look at opportunities and barriers to restoring and creating native woodland in Scotland.

Woodland Trust Scotland believes that while progress is being made to restore existing woodland and create new native woodland, Scotland needs to do much more, much faster.

The four key areas for priority at the Woodland Creation Summit are below.

1. We need a step change in scale and ambition. Last year we created just 55% of the new woodland that the Scottish Government believes we need to meet our net zero targets. The targets are rightly rising, meaning that from next year we need to more than double our annual woodland creation levels to meet our net zero commitments.
2. It’s about quality, not just area. We need a diverse and resilient national forest that supports nature restoration, quality timber production, health and wellbeing, local communities, carbon sequestration and climate adaptation. Scottish woodland creation grants lag significantly behind other parts of the UK and need to be increased. Public funding for forest creation must ensure maximum delivery of public goods.
3. It’s not all about planting. Where deer and other herbivore levels are reduced, the forest often expands naturally without the need for plastic shelters and miles of deer fencing across the landscape. Public funding mechanisms need to change to support deer reductions at landscape scale that will allow nature to do more of the woodland creation for us and reduce the cost of woodland creation.
4. Carbon sequestration is important but complex. Fast growing trees soak up carbon quickly, but low-grade timber has a limited lifespan and doesn’t lock carbon up for long. That means we need to focus on producing better quality timber while also creating more native woodland that will lock up carbon for millenia. Our future forests need to deliver more than just carbon and should be designed and managed to deliver multiple benefits.

Commenting on the summit, Woodland Trust Scotland Director Alastair Seaman said:

"We’re pleased to be participating in this summit, and hope it leads to clear action from the Scottish Government to enable us to meet woodland creation targets that are consistent with our net zero ambitions.

"Scotland remains one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world, and climate breakdown is relentless. Trees and native woodland have a massive role to play in tackling those twin crises head-on.

"But there are barriers to overcome if Scotland is to meet its ambitious targets. We need to up our ambition as a country, enabling restoration and creation. That means effective deer control, tackling invasive species, long term planning, and more creative thinking. And all of that has to be backed up with adequate funding – especially for the Scottish Government agencies tasked with delivering on nature and climate."