Select committee: Environmental Audit Committee

Conclusion 29

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 152

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)

Given the different advantages of different woodland types and species mixes for biodiversity, carbon storage and timber production, to ensure that the benefits of the nation’s woodlands are fully realised, the total area of woodland managed to the UKFS must be increased. Significantly expanding the UK’s woodland cover is necessary not only to compensate for predicted shortfalls in the supply of domestically-produced softwood timber, but also to enhance the resilience of the nation’s woodlands to future pest, disease and climate challenges through increasing the diversity of trees planted.

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 152, 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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