Select committee: Environmental Audit Committee

Conclusion 28

Fifth Report - Seeing the wood for the trees: the contribution of the forestry and timber sectors to biodiversity and net zero goals Published 19 Jul 2023 Paragraph 151

Environmental Audit Committee Sustainable timber and deforestation All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗

Conclusion (the committee's words)

New or restocked woodlands planted to the UK Forestry Standard (UKFS) will have lower yields of timber per area. The planting of predominantly broadleaf species in recent decades has reduced the future availability of softwood timber. To ensure the continued availability of softwoods from productive forestry, it is evident that rates of conifer planting compliant with UKFS ought to increase. But increased planting of conifers ought not to be undertaken at the expense of native broadleaf species, given the clear importance of the latter for biodiversity levels.

From: Environmental Audit Committee, Fifth Report - Seeing the wood for the trees: the contribution of the forestry and timber sectors to biodiversity and net zero goals (HC 637), paragraph 151, 19 July 2023

Government response

The government responded to the whole report on 15 December 2023 (deadline 19 September 2023).

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The Government agrees that forestry and timber will be crucial nature-based solutions for Net Zero and biodiversity, says it has "already acted or is planning action" on many recommendations, and sets out where it is working with industry and consulting rather than committing to the Committee's specific proposals.

On sub-targets for woodland types, the Government says it "could consider" them but that they "would not be statutory", and that a single undifferentiated target was set "to improve delivery confidence".
On a long-term domestic timber production target, it says setting one "would be challenging" because harvesting rates depend on factors such as global timber markets.
On the Timber in Construction Roadmap, it reports "good progress" and says it intends to publish "later in 2023".
On biomass, it says its Biomass Strategy sets out actions the Government is "minded to take" to strengthen sustainability criteria, "subject to consultation", and "intend[s] to publish a consultation" in 2024.

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