Establishing the Task Force was a commitment made by the new UK Labour government, and its initial meeting was chaired by UK forestry minister Mary Creagh MP. Ministers from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland welcomed the Task Force and shared their experiences in the meeting.
Confor chief executive Stuart Goodall represented the private forestry and wood processing sector.
“Delivering increased woodland creation will rely on a wide range of businesses in the industry, from tree nurseries to tree planters,” he said. “Confor members have real-life experience in how to make woodland creation work, from planning to the point of planting the trees in the ground.”
A range of issues were discussed at the meeting, including skills and industry recruitment, and Mr Goodall highlighted the need to engender confidence in the industry.
“Increased woodland creation targets won’t be met without a bigger and stronger private sector, and that requires industry confidence to invest and to recruit.
“The key requirements for securing that confidence include: strong and repeated political commitment to woodland creation; sufficient, secure and multi-year grant funding; a suitably resourced public sector; and a settled operating environment, ie avoiding frequent change to policy, rules and standards.
“If there is greater confidence in the private sector then businesses will be more likely to invest in attracting and training people.”
Increased confidence will also be key to attracting the green financial investment that governments want to see to supplement public funding.
In the meeting, Mr Goodall noted that Confor has delivered important taster events and worked with armed forces leavers in an initiative supported by Scottish Forestry and Forestry Commission.
Confor has also successfully launched a Good Practice Guide on Stakeholder Engagement which has been welcomed by 16 MSPs in Holyrood, so far. Confor has also launched the first draft on an online Forestry and Wood Hub, and continues to deliver training in stakeholder engagement to those leading woodland creation projects across Scotland.
Laying down the challenge for the Task Force, Minister Creagh said: “Trees deliver huge social, environmental and economic benefits – from absorbing carbon dioxide, cooling our cities, improving well-being and helping reduce NHS costs, while a thriving forestry sector supports green jobs and drives economic growth.”
When summing up the discussion, Ms Creagh noted that there was agreement that, while forestry is a devolved matter, there is a shared desire to succeed and a willingness to work together on key issues like skills and recruitment.
The minister also expressed her strong desire to see greater significance in COP meetings placed on promoting forestry’s role in tackling climate change. Next year’s COP30 will take place in Brazil.
