The James Hutton Institute
This page is no longer updated. The Macaulay Land Use Research Institute joined forces with SCRI on 1 April 2011 to create The James Hutton Institute.
THE STATE OF SCOTLAND'S FARMED ENVIRONMENT 2005
32. EXISTING POLICY COMMITMENTS AND POTENTIAL FUTURE POLICY DEVELOPMENTS FOR SCOTLAND WITH RESPECT TO AGRICULTURE AND THE ENVIRONMENT
Forestry
Forestry cover of 25% of the land in 2050 would require a huge expansion of woodlands in Scotland given that in 2005 Scotland’s tree cover extended to about 17%of the land area (about 1.3 million hectares) (Forestry Commission, 2005). Over the next 45 years, tree cover in Scotland would need to expand by 0.65 million hectares to reach a land cover of 1.95 million hectares in 2050. That would require yearly new planting of more than 14,000 hectares, assuming that the uptake rate does not decline over time, which seems unlikely, given that in later years increasing competition with other land uses would limit the uptake. For example, better agricultural land is less likely to be used for afforestation. In this context and taking into account the significant lower uptake figures for forestry schemes and new planting over the last few years, the target seems rather ambitious. Moreover, it is not guaranteed that such an extensive tree cover would bring maximum environmental benefit in terms of biodiversity. Other habitats such as peatland habitats are characterized as being species rich and important for biodiversity as well as being an important pool and sink for carbon (Chapman et al., 2003). Substituting such habitats by woodlands does not necessarily increase the biodiversity and environmental benefits.
The Scottish Forestry Strategy (Forestry Commission, 2000) is under review in 2005 and, at the time of writing this report, it is not sure, if the commitment of increasing the forestry cover to 25% of Scotland ’s land area by 2050 remains in the revised strategy.
Environmental Commitments >>