from Sunday Herald, 19 August 2007
A new £3 million government grant scheme meant to combat climate change by planting trees has been snubbed by environmentalists because they regard it as flawed.
Scottish Environment LINK, an umbrella group involving 36 major environmental organisations, has refused to take part in the scheme because it doesn't do enough to help wildlife. Some groups have also attacked the scheme as "greenwash" on the grounds that it fails to really tackle the pollution that is causing global warming.
The Woodland Creation Scheme was launched last month by the environment minister Michael Russell "to help tackle the impacts of climate change". Outline applications for grants to plant trees have to be submitted before the end of August.
The leaflet explaining the scheme produced by the government's Forestry Commission says that LINK will be represented on the judging panel being set up to decide who should be awarded grants.
But the Sunday Herald understands that LINK has in fact turned down the Commission's invitation to join the panel. A representative of LINK's woodland task force telephoned the Commission last week to say that they would not be participating.
LINK members are concerned that the scheme puts too much emphasis on creating commercial sitka spruce plantations which make poor habitats for wildlife. They are annoyed that they were not consulted in the early stages of designing the scheme.
The environmental campaign group, Reforesting Scotland, has also criticised the scheme for "dressing up industry-led forestry in popular climate change clothing". The scheme does nothing to reduce transport pollution, to utilise forestry waste or to replace fossil fuels, the group said.
"We are cynical at the suggestion that this scheme is aimed at the promotion of action to mitigate climate change when it palpably is not," said Dr Roddy Fairley, chairman of Reforesting Scotland.
"It is dishonest to portray forestry wholly as a contributor to a solution rather than acknowledging, and doing something about, its contribution to the problem."
The forestry industry must act to cut the pollution caused by moving and using timber, Fairley argued. "Forestry cannot disassociate itself from all the downstream purposes to which its products are put. Nor can it disassociate itself from the energy costs of forest practice and timber transport."
Dr Richard Dixon, the director of WWF Scotland, called on the Forestry Commission to do better. "This scheme does not go far enough in ensuring maximum climate change benefits," he said.
"The Commission has been taking an increasing interest in climate change issues but in this case they seem to have failed to translate that interest into action."
The Confederation of Forest Industries (Confor), however, welcomed the Woodland Creation Scheme, and confirmed that it was taking part in the judging panel. Plantations of fast-growing sitka spruce trees were an effective way of trapping carbon dioxide, one of the main causes of global warming, Confor argued.
"Well planned planting schemes, that conform to best practice standards and that are managed sustainably provide a wide range of benefits, including biodiversity, sustainable supplies of timber and climate change mitigation," said Confor's Jamie Farquhar.
The scheme was defended by the Environment Minister, Michael Russell, as an "interim measure" designed to help land managers plant woodlands this year while they waited for a new rural development funding programme to be introduced next year.
"It will assist in the creation of around 2,000 hectares of woodland and will make a clear contribution to biodiversity and forest habitat networks, as well as helping to secure continuity of supply of raw material from Scotland’s forests into the future," he said.
The Forestry Commission accepted that the new scheme had been brought in very quickly. "It is not intended as a 'catch all' scheme but complements other measures in place that the Scottish Executive and Forestry Commission Scotland support", said a Commission spokeswoman.
"A representative from LINK was invited to contribute to the assessment panel prior to any announcement and finalisation of the scheme. We understand that they have declined, however the invitation remains open." LINK declined to comment.
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