Forests: Conservation

(asked on 7th July 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Government's recent announcement on the COP26 initiative to protect the world’s forests, what steps he has taken to strengthen measures to protect forests in the UK.


Answered by
Rebecca Pow Portrait
Rebecca Pow
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This question was answered on 16th July 2021

We are committed to increasing tree planting across the UK to 30,000 hectares per year by the end of this parliament. We published our ambitious England Trees Action Plan on 18 May which sets out our plans to at least treble tree planting rates in England in support of this, using more than £500m from the Nature for Climate Fund.

The irreplaceable nature of ancient and long-established woodlands is recognised in our 25 Year Environment Plan. We therefore strengthened the protection of ancient and veteran trees in 2018 through the National Planning Policy Framework and guidance to planners. These outline that developments should be refused if they would lead to the loss and deterioration of ancient and veteran trees unless there are wholly exceptional reasons and suitable compensation measures.

The Government will also introduce a new category of ‘Long Established Woodland’, which are woodlands that have been in situ since 1840, alongside ancient woodland. We will consult on the protections these woodlands are afforded in the planning system, recognising their high ecological and societal value.

We will also continue to lead efforts to build resilience to protect and enhance our trees, woods, and forests for the future, implementing the four environmental goals of the Tree Health Resilience Strategy: Extent, Connectivity, Diversity, and Condition. This includes launching a new Centre for Forest Protection which will help protect our trees, woodlands, and forests from the threats from pests and pathogens through the provision of better evidence.

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