Welsh Government to plant 86 million trees in nine years in response to climate crisis

Wales must plant 86 million trees over the next decade, massively enhancing the amount becoming planted.

Last year, just 290 hectares of woodland was planted in Wales but 43,000 new hectares is required within the next nine years. Annual woodland creation has not exceeded 2,000 hectares since 1975.

As part of intends to meet Wales' global warming commitment, Welsh Government has said it will make huge changes to the system.

In a written statement to Senedd members, deputy global warming minister Lee Waters says planting more trees will not only assist in avoiding catastrophic climate change and can create jobs, address the nature emergency, increasing well-being, and mitigating flooding and air quality issues.

Welsh Government has dedicated to a National Forest for Wales however it said this target will not be met by Welsh Government planting the trees "but through the communities, farmers and other landowners across Wales".

Mr Waters said he wants to see families with a garden to plant more trees, and each school and community group. Areas for 30 new woodlands and 100 Tiny Forests included in the National Forest programme is going to be identified.

"We'll also be working with public bodies to map land they own to proactively identify where more trees can be planted," he writes.

He says current guidance for landowners is "complicated and appearance restrictive" so new rules is going to be setup.

Private sector funding is going to be needed and on farms, tree planting along field boundaries will be encourages.

A Trees Task Force has been meeting, which found that "current Welsh Government funding for tree planting has been too inconsistent and hard to gain access to. While it is important to make sure that new woodland is planted within the right places as well as in the proper way, the procedure for doing it is simply too slow and bureaucratic."

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Welsh Government has committed lb17m to tree planting over the next 2 yrs and that will be reopened to permit more applications and make sure the full finances are spent. Natural Resources Wales will look at speeding up delivery too.

The task force has also considered what changes are needed across the timber supply chain to inspire greater use of Welsh timber and fibre in construction with Welsh Government stating that to satisfy net zero will mean using more timber. Currently, 80% from the timber utilized in the united kingdom is imported and just 4% of harvested Welsh timber is processed to be used as construction graded timber – a lower proportion compared to Scotland or Ireland.

Further detail will be put down inside a new Woodland for Wales Plan of action later this year.