Forestry: 7,000 green jobs and low-carbon growth, which has been presented to environment secretary Caroline Spelman, outlines how forestry can provide more than 7,000 new jobs in areas of rural deprivation in England while reducing carbon and improving biodiversity.
"Many rural areas of England suffer from deprivation with few good job opportunities," said Confor chief executive Stuart Goodall.
"These areas contain a lot of forestry, much of it unmanaged. Stimulating forestry and wood processing activity across England would be a low cost way of creating thousands of jobs and improving the environment."
Confor had previously submitted a draft of the report to the Independent Panel on Forestry as well as some government departments, and following significant interest had firmed up the numbers.
Confor said government action to promote the use of wood in construction, including Wood First policies, as well as supporting new planting and investment in local woodfuel would cost about £20m, principally in new planting.
Tens of thousands of tonnes of carbon would be removed from the atmosphere and more home-grown products would be produced.
"This is a massive opportunity to deliver on the government’s green jobs agenda while delivering wide environmental and social benefits," Mr Goodall said.
