Source · Select Committees · Welsh Affairs Committee
Recommendation 6
6
Paragraph: 36
We recognise the importance of increasing woodland to tackle the climate emergency.
Conclusion
We recognise the importance of increasing woodland to tackle the climate emergency. However, there are unintended consequences emerging as a result of planting too many trees, of the wrong type, in the wrong place. The move to net zero also needs to be better understood—something that would be helped by greater transparency on what is happening. We have heard legitimate concerns from a large number of witnesses regarding companies buying Welsh farmland for tree planting in order to off-set their carbon emissions. The extent to which this is happening, and the drivers for these actions (and whether they are an unintended consequence of tree planting schemes, including those established by both the UK and Welsh governments), is difficult to establish.
Paragraph Reference:
36
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
There are arrangements in place that are working well between the UK Government (DEFRA) and the Devolved Administrations to co-operate on agricultural support issues under the Provisional Common Support Framework on Agricultural Support - the non- legislative framework for UK collaboration, coordination and cooperation on agricultural support. Officials who operate these arrangements work together closely on agricultural support issues covered by the Framework which include: • Agricultural spending and associated regulation and enforcement; • Marketing standards; • Crisis measures, Public Intervention (PI) and Private Storage Aid (PSA); • Cross border holdings (within the UK) and • Data collection and sharing. The main fora for official level discussion and decision-making are the UK Agriculture Policy Collaboration Group (PCG) and the UK Agriculture Market Monitoring Group (MMG). The PCG’s role is to share knowledge, information and good practice proactively between the four nations and to discuss and coordinate policy innovation and developments in relation to agricultural support schemes and wider issues of common concern that affect sustainable agriculture priorities across the UK. The MMG monitors and assesses the impact of market developments across the UK. The group meets monthly and it monitors UK agricultural markets including price, supply, inputs, trade and recent developments, enabling it to provide forewarning of any atypical market movements. During the Covid-19 pandemic this group has provided a forum for DEFRA and the devolved administrations to share the latest market and stakeholder information. The economic and cultural impacts of trade and environmental policy on family farms in Wales: Government response 5 Future farming in Wales