Question reference: S6W-26800
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 10 April 2024
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Current status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 24 April 2024
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the potential impact of not meeting its target of creating 18,000 hectares of new woodland in 2024-25.
Answer
As a result of the UK Government cutting Scotland’s capital allocation, funding support will not allow us to reach our target, but it will still help create over 9,000 ha of new woodland. The implications of not meeting the 2024-25 woodland creation target will be examined in preparation for the next Climate Change Plan, including modelling the impacts on the capacity of Scotland’s forests to sequester carbon and their longer term contribution to Net Zero in 2045. Even though it will not deliver its very ambitious woodland creation target in 2024-25, Scotland is expected to deliver the large majority of woodland creation across the UK.