Janet Finch-Saunders, Member of the Welsh Parliament for Aberconwy, and Shadow Minister for Climate Change, has commenced National Tree Week by calling on the Welsh Government to ensure that the “right tree is planted in the right place for the right reason”.
The intervention comes as part of the Member’s campaign to try and ensure that tree planting is not allowed to force out Welsh farmers, and follows her recent article on the situation in which she detailed her calls for a Just Transition Commission to ensure the burden of decarbonisation does not fall unequally on rural communities nor has a negative impact on the historically thriving Welsh language in rural Wales.
The race to keep 1.5 alive and achieve net-zero by 2050 has seen a surge in individuals and businesses seeking to offset their carbon emissions, including through purchasing farms in Wales in order to plant trees.
Commenting on the crisis facing rural Wales, Janet said:
“It is essential that National Tree Week is used as an opportunity to highlight that we must ensure that the right tree is planted in the right place for the right reason.
“If the Welsh Government do not act on my calls for a safety net – the Just Transition Commission – to be formed, the planting of 180,000 hectares of trees by 2050 could see the loss of 3,750 Welsh family farms.
“The afforestation of such a vast amount of land would see us lose the opportunity to increase carbon sequestration and long term storage of carbon by protecting and enhancing the existing store on farmland. For example, this can be done through improved management of existing woodland, hedgerows, heathlands, wetlands, peatlands and increasing soil organic carbon in grasslands.
“Soil can also provide a more resilient carbon store compared to trees due to increased droughts, wildfires and disease, so I agree with FUW that protecting and building soil structure through reduced tillage, species rich grasslands, livestock grazing management and increasing tree cover offers multiple benefits, including for productivity and biodiversity on farmland.
“There seems to be cross-party will to achieve action, and the Commission I am proposing could be key to engaging with stakeholders and advising on the most suitable approaches.
“Urgent action is needed now because forests are forcing out farmers, and will cause a carbon crisis as we will become even more reliant on imported food. The Minister for Climate Change must be clear that the longer she holds back, the more deep routed and the worse the situation will become”.
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