Chamber and committees

That is great. I am sorry, Jim: we need to move on because of the time.

To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting local authorities to deliver relief for residents at risk of poverty during the cost of living crisis and in light of rising energy costs. (S6O-01526)

To ask the Deputy First Minister what measures are in place to protect Scotland from any potential risks to cybersecurity. (S6F-01502)

Cybersecurity is flourishing in Scotland, with the first cyber Scotland summit taking place only a few weeks ago and Edinburgh aiming to become the data capital of Europe. What will we do to continue that positive path through building cyber resilience in the public sector?

In July this year, concerned with the looming energy crisis, I met local churches to discuss the idea of providing warm welcome spaces for the winter. I am glad to see that the idea is being rolled out throughout churches in Ayr, Prestwick and Troon.

I note that, during these difficult times, local authorities are putting in place measures to assist local communities. Scottish National Party-run North Ayrshire Council has launched a massive £450,000 fund to help out residents during the cost of living crisis. Does the minster agree that all councils in Scotland should take similar steps?

I learned last week that a new word had been added to the Collins dictionary: permacrisis. Permacrisis is an extended period in which people live through crises including war, inflation, climate change and political instability. In recent years, we have all been living through permacrisis—crisis upon crisis.

Although war, inflation and political instability are generally temporary, we know that climate change is not temporary and, if action is not taken, it will cause permanent damage to our planet for our future generations. We heard from my colleague Jim Fairlie about the stark realities of climate change in the examples that he gave.

We all have a moral responsibility to do what we can to tackle the climate crisis and we are all aware that world leaders are currently meeting at COP27 in Egypt to take action. My colleague Fiona Hyslop has mentioned some of the commitments at COP27 this week. I would also like to highlight that our First Minister has confirmed another £5 million this week for loss and damage at COP27 and has urged other countries to follow suit. Last year, Scotland became the first developed nation to pledge finance to address loss and damage and now other countries have followed suit, including Denmark. Professor Saleemul Huq, who is the director of the International Centre for Climate Change and Development, said:

“The Scottish Government’s leadership in this area, including the latest funding pledge, is welcome and I hope it will prove an inspiration to other countries to take action to provide funding for loss and damage with urgency at COP27.”

Moving on to the debate on forestry, I will quote environmentalist George Monbiot:

“There is a magic machine that sucks carbon out of the air, costs very little, and builds itself. It’s called … a tree.”

Tree planting is a critical element of the Scottish Government’s plan to tackle the climate emergency and to help achieve a net zero Scotland. Although we are doing well, we need to do more to support the timber industry in Scotland. I think that it is unacceptable that the UK is the second largest net importer of timber in the world, China being the first. I welcome the fact that Scotland has planted 80 per cent of all new woodland in the UK for the past four years, and that the Scottish Government understands the vital importance of tree planting and home-grown wood use to its net zero ambitions and its economy.

We all know that the Scottish Government has an ambitious commitment to reach net zero by 2045, and expanding our forests and woodlands is key to achieving that, as our trees will soak up harmful CO₂ from the atmosphere. Currently, Scotland’s trees are sequestrating 7.6 million tonnes of CO₂ each year, which is the equivalent of 14 per cent of our gross greenhouse gas emissions. That demonstrates how important the Scottish Government’s woodland expansion plans are in fighting climate change.

I welcome the fact that the Scottish Government will soon publish a new biodiversity strategy for Scotland, which will set out what our natural environment needs to look like by 2045 in order to reverse biodiversity decline and protect our environment. The Government’s motion also reiterates a commitment to increase the use of domestic timber.

Glennon Brothers is a large business that is based in Troon, in my constituency. I have had the pleasure of visiting it several times, and I thank the minister for joining me earlier this year on a visit to see the great work that the company does, as it plays a crucial role in the local economy. It sustainably produces timber from Scottish spruce—I know that Fergus Ewing has mentioned the importance of Scottish spruce—to make Scottish homes, among other products. It then uses the by-products of that process to generate all its own heat and energy. The business is in part supported by the Scottish Government’s fantastic timberlink initiative. In 2021, that initiative saw 52,500 tonnes of timber shipped into Troon harbour—in context, that is about five Eiffel towers’ worth—which takes more than 2,000 lorry movements off the roads between Argyll and Ayrshire, cutting congestion and emissions.

I will take the opportunity to highlight to the minister that businesses such as Glennon Brothers want to grow and expand capacity, and to do that, further investment is required in timberlink. With fuel costs rising and economic uncertainty, there has been an increase in operational costs to run the vessels, which means that there has been a reduction in the tonnage that can be delivered by timberlink into Troon. I highlight that pressing issue of concern to the minister.

The interlinked crises of nature loss and climate change need urgent action across government and society. We have a moral obligation to protect nature and the climate for our future generations. I said at the beginning of my speech that the destruction of the environment and climate change are the biggest threats to our future generations. Woodland expansion is a priority for the Scottish Government, but it is vital that it is carefully planned—and that has been highlighted in a lot of the contributions to the debate. As at 31 March 2022, it is estimated that the area of woodland in the UK is 3.24 million hectares, which represents 13 per cent of the total land area of the whole of the UK, and the percentage of land that is woodland is 19 per cent in Scotland, 15 per cent in Wales, 10 per cent in England and 9 per cent in Northern Ireland.

Scotland, as a small country, is doing really well in this area and we are punching well above our weight. The Scottish Government acknowledges the importance of forestry’s contribution to net zero in Scotland, with new packages such as the £60m nature restoration fund, which supports projects across Scotland that address the twin crises of biodiversity loss and climate change. I also welcome the minister’s funding announcements this afternoon.

We all want to play our part in achieving net zero. That simple magic machine—a tree—will not solve all our problems on its own, but it will make a fair dent in them.

That is all right.

Does Murdo Fraser want to come back in?

Is there anything that could be improved?

That is helpful. I will bring in Tony Wilson.

The evidence session has been an informative and engaging start to the inquiry. I thank all the witnesses for your evidence and giving us your time. We intend to continue taking evidence in November before we hear from the Deputy First Minister at our meeting on 8 December. If witnesses would like to raise any further evidence with the committee, they can do so in writing, and the clerks would be happy to liaise with you on how to do that.

The committee’s next meeting will be on 10 November, when we will continue our inquiry by considering the drivers behind long-term illness in greater depth. That concludes the public part of our meeting.