Forestry has a seat at the Cabinet table again in Scotland after it was confirmed that it will be included in the Rural Affairs portfolio of Mairi Gougeon MSP.
Confor, a membership organisation for sustainable forestry and wood-using businesses, has welcomed the announcement in a letter to the new Cabinet Secretary, who has experience of the sector from her time as Minister for Rural Affairs and the Natural Environment between June 2018 and December 2020.
The 2019 Scottish Forestry Strategy was passed during her time in the post.
Previously, forestry policy was in the hands of Màiri McAllan, as Minister for Environment and Land Reform. She has now been promoted to Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Just Transition and the responsibility for forestry has passed to Mairi Gougeon in the reshaped role of Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands.
Stuart Goodall, Chief Executive of Confor, said “This is very welcome news. Not only does forestry and wood have a seat back at the Cabinet table, but we will also be dealing with Mairi Gougeon, someone who knows the sector well.
“During her time as Minister for Rural Affairs, she visited Jerah, the largest new productive planting site in Scotland at the time, and made clear that she understood the wide-ranging benefits of modern forestry.”
After her visit to Jerah in early 2019, Mairi Gougeon said it was “a great example of multi-purpose forestry that we want to see for the future, delivering woodland creation, carbon sequestration, timber production, recreation and flood management”.
In a letter to Ms Gougeon, Mr Goodall praised her predecessor, but stressed that Scotland had lost momentum and was off the pace on its ambitious tree planting targets.
He wrote: “I am delighted that the £1 billion forestry and wood processing industry is again represented by a Cabinet Secretary. Confor considers this appropriate, not just because of the 25,000+ jobs the industry supports across rural Scotland, but also because of the challenges ahead – not least meeting woodland creation targets from the 2021 SNP manifesto.
“As you will be aware, the government’s aim is to increase targets for new woodland creation up to 18,000 hectares per year by 2025 – but Scotland is not on track to achieve these targets. Last December, the Climate Change Committee said; ‘While Scotland’s tree-planting rates are higher than those in the rest of the UK combined, rates have recently plateaued and are off track [to meet the 2024/25 target].’