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Scottish Government proposals to lease out a quarter of Forestry Commission Scotland land as part of the Climate Change Bill could
undermine our commitments to wildlife, warn RSPB Scotland.
The measures, to be debated in Parliament today, risk diverting attention from what is otherwise a very welcome and ambitious commitment on climate change. The Bill as drafted would introduce far reaching powers that could diminish existing Forestry Commission obligations to wildlife. Stuart Housden, Director of RSPB Scotland says: "We applaud the Climate Change Bill's ambitious targets to reduce Scotland's emissions, but we're worried that the forestry elements haven't been properly thought through. If up to a quarter of State forestry land is put out to long term lease as suggested, then that could restrict the Government's ability to improve the value of the land for wildlife. This proposal is being presented as a way of meeting carbon targets through new woodland creation, which is still unproven science." Forestry Commission Scotland has an important role to play in addressing climate change, for example by restoring the carbon and wildlife value of the peat bogs that it owns. These bogs are massive stores of carbon, and must be managed so they do not release carbon to the atmosphere. Drainage and past afforestation has caused damage to many of these areas in Scotland. "At the end of the day, as long as Scotland's forestry is managed in the right way for wildlife and climate change then who runs it doesn't really matter," says Housden. "But what we certainly don't want to see is a return to the dark days of poorly located forest planting which damages landscapes and nature. We should be righting the mistakes of previous decades, so we are looking for proper safeguards against another round of largescale Scottish afforestation before any of the estate is leased."
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Land & politics 
