Question reference: S6W-19203
- Asked by: Jackie Dunbar, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
- Date lodged: 14 June 2023
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Current status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 15 June 2023
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the 2022-23 official woodland creation statistics, to be published on 15 June 2023.
Answer
The statistics released today show that last year Scotland created 8,190 hectares of new woodland, with England creating 3,130, Wales 1,190 and Northern Ireland 450 hectares respectively. Throughout the whole of the UK, Scotland is outstripping other countries and creating around 63% of all new woodland.
Scotland has by far the most ambitious woodland creation targets in the UK and despite the challenges of Brexit, Covid and winter storms, landowners have created around 51,000 hectares of new woodland in the past five years or around 102 million trees.
The current planting levels are disappointing and the Scottish Government announced an action plan earlier this week designed to speed up the woodland creation application process and encourage more landowners to get trees in the ground.
A Scottish Forestry Summit, with industry leaders and land management bodies, will be held later in the year to secure agreement on getting planting levels back on track.
Woodland creation targets are set in the Scottish Government’s Climate Change Plan and are rising year on year, rising to 18,000 hectares a year by 2024-25.