Question reference: S6W-16145
- Date lodged: 24 March 2023 Registered interest
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Current status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 11 April 2023
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its commitment to raise tree-planting rates from 10,000 hectares to 15,000 hectares per year by 2024-25, how many hectares of trees were planted in each of the past five years.
Answer
The Scottish Government’s woodland creation target will rise to 18,000 hectares per year by 2024-25, with an annual target for a minimum of 4,000 hectares of this newly created woodland to be native woodland.
Forest Research publishes official statistics for new woodland planting, which includes longer time series data. Data for the number of hectares of woodland planted in the past five years in Scotland is available here: https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/tools-and-resources/statistics/forestry-statistics/
Figures for new woodland creation for the past five financial years (1 April to 31 March) are as follows:
Year | England | Wales | Scotland | Northern Ireland | UK |
2017-18 | 1.50 | 0.20 | 7.14 | 0.21 | 9.05 |
2018-19 | 1.41 | 0.67 | 11.21 | 0.24 | 13.53 |
2019-20 | 2.36 | 0.08 | 11.05 | 0.20 | 13.68 |
2020-21 | 2.05 | 0.29 | 10.66 | 0.28 | 13.29 |
2021-22 | 2.26 | 0.58 | 10.48 | 0.54 | 13.84 |