The future of England's Forests

The Arboricultural Association has made two representations to DEFRA on the future of the public forest estate (PFE).  The AA is still concerned that government's focus on trees is skewed disproportionately towards timber crops and does not put sufficient emphasis on urban trees - the trees where most people live and work.

Confor has recently contributed to the debate on England’s forests as follows:

Forestry has rarely had a higher profile in England, but public debate has focused almost exclusively around the issue of ownership of the public forest estate (PFE). Websites such as the ‘Save Our Forest’ site provide an interactive forum for discussion and the emergence of the ‘Our Forests’ initiative provides a welcome new contribution to the debate, both beginning a process of looking at the important wider issues around forestry in England. In order to contribute to this emerging debate, Confor has now published on its website the first three of a series of papers on forestry in England.

 

“These papers are intended to inform debate and, in the case of the paper on the PFE, prompt discussion on its future role”, explained Confor’s England manager Caroline Harrison.

 

The papers deliberately avoid a technical or over-analytical approach, and examine topical issues and ideas. The first three papers are:

 

• Managing our forests responsibly discusses what is meant by forest management and raises the importance of financial sustainability.
• The public forest estate considers what the future role of the PFE could be and offers ideas for discussion on how that could be structured.  Confor hopes this will stimulate debate and invites comment.
• Forests and financial sustainability explains why and how ‘the wood that pays is the wood that stays’.

 

Caroline Harrison added: “I hope this series of papers will be seen as a useful contribution to discussion around a sustainable future for England’s forests, addressing some of the fundamental principles on which forestry is based. It was a shame that all the media interest at the beginning of the year did not extend beyond the issue of ownership of the PFE. Of course that is an important issue, and one which Confor tackles in its papers. However, a successful forestry sector needs to also address why and how woodlands exist, and how we can secure finance to provide all the services that are valued so highly in England’s forests.”

 

The policy papers are at www.confor.org.uk