46 | Sector Focus: UK Forestry
He added that we need an industry that uses wood and contains carbon, saying that the government “needs to think through the next stage – it’s difficult to build more with wood because it’s got caught up in the fire issue”.
The structure to enable more timber construction is missing, said Lord Deben. “The government could learn from its experience of creating the £6.7bn market for offshore wind, which has resulted in half of the UK’s energy now coming from renewables. “The most important thing now is to create a market for the wood we produce and the government has to think that through much more than it does. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and Defra have trouble seeing this as a total picture.”
Above: John Lockhart picked out some of the market drivers for woodland creation
◄ “We have to get to zero [emissions] but we also have to enhance the world’s ability to take carbon in – that’s the ‘net’ bit,” he said, adding that this could be achieved not just by planting trees, but also by making our soils more able to sequestrate carbon by changing the way we farm, and by using our coastal seas by planting seagrass and kelp and so on. Turning to forestry, Lord Deben said we must avoid the “massive rows” over broadleaves versus conifers and learn from the past in terms of where to plant and how to maintain the forests afterwards. He also said that if trees were being planted for sequestration purposes, a rewards structure was necessary for the landowners making those decisions.
Echoing the much publicised comments by members of the Royal family that there is too much talk and not enough action on climate change, Lord Deben complained that progress was “pathetically” slow and that the gap between discussing and establishing policies and putting them into practice is vast. He encouraged the CLA and conference delegates to continue to call the government to account and to concentrate in particular on the lack of stock – “we can grow stock here but not without going to huge trouble and we’re not doing it”; on skills – “we’re very bad at skilling people and still have the British snootiness about how it’s better to be academic than practical and we have to have a different way of thinking”; and funding – “the support and tax opportunities that will make it work have to be given”. “We still don’t have a method of getting the hurdles out of the way,” Lord Deben concluded. “It’s important that you [the delegates] make sure the government knows what is preventing the planting that should be taking place.”
This was a neat segue into the next presentation by Naomi Matthiessen and Bella Murfin, who are co-directors for Defra’s Nature for Climate Tree Programme and are responsible for the department’s Trees & Forestry team. Their remit at Defra is to boost the contribution of England’s treescape to the government’s net zero and nature recovery ambitions.
Ms Murfin said that the government has
“enormous ambitions to plant” but that planting rates were still fairly static and that there still wasn’t enough woodland management. The Nature for Climate Fund (NCF), which was announced in the spring of 2020, was designed to kickstart change, she said.
Above: Nina Williams is head forester at the Cowdray Estate
Recapping on the NCF, Ms Murfin said that £640m has been committed to increase tree planting in England and peat restoration over this parliament. Some £500m of this fund is dedicated to the delivery of the England Trees
TTJ | January/February 2022 |
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Action Plan (ETAP), which was published in the spring of 2021 and is now in its implementation phase.
“The aim of the NCF is to support the creation and management of schemes specifically designed to recognise and pay for the public benefits that trees can provide,” said Ms Murfin. “This includes schemes like the England Woodland Creation Offer (EWCO) where there was £15m available in 2021 alone.”
The NCF also aims to boost the use of private investment to pay for the public benefit of trees, she added. The ETAP shows the government’s long-term vision for trees and woodland in England to 2050 and beyond, outlining how it will “at least treble” woodland creation rates in England by the end of this parliament as well as better protecting existing trees and woodland. It includes more than 90 action plans, including those critical to removing the obstacles to landowners realising the full benefits of tree planting and woodland management.
Ms Murfin said that 13 of the action plans had been fulfilled – including the launch of the EWCO in June 2021 – and that an annual progress review would be published. Ms Matthiessen added that the Defra team was encouraging landowners to look at how they could access grants for establishing and managing woodlands and that it was keen to work with them to test new mechanisms. Sam Pollock, the Forestry Commission’s head of future woodland incentives, has strategic oversight of a suite of grants aimed at increasing England’s tree cover, including the EWCO and the Woodland Creation Planning Grant. Ms Pollock said there was support available at every stage: the Woodland Creation Planning Grant (WCPG) for planning and design; the EWCO for planting and establishment; and the Woodland Carbon Guarantee (WCaG) for long-term viability. Flagging up the EWCO in particular she said that, just three months into its launch, uptake had been very pleasing and that by 2024 it would have made “a massive impact” on targets set by government. EWCO covers 100% of standard costs, contributes towards actual cost items and offers maintenance payments of up to £200/ ha per year for 10 years. Farmers are still eligible to claim the Basic Payment Scheme on eligible land planted under EWCO and this and other “stackable” EWCO additional contributions are valued from £400-£8,000/ ha. The grant is available for areas as small as one hectare and there is no maximum size. The application process is designed for speed and should take between three to five months. “You will be able to transfer penalty-free into an Environmental Land Management
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