2. Will the Minister provide an update on progress made in tree planting across Wales? OAQ54842

Thank you. The Welsh Government’s policy document 'Woodlands for Wales' strategy outlines our commitments and objectives towards forestry in Wales. An additional £1 million has been given to the current round of Glastir woodland creation, and we are developing a national forest programme to increase woodland planting and management in Wales.

I thank the Minister for that answer. But, following on from your statement yesterday on your clean air plan, it would seem that the Government is keen on rhetoric but somewhat lacking on commitment. You spoke of such things as healthy resilience, reduction in air pollution both from industry and transport, and the desperate need to increase air quality. And, yet, you fail to mention one intervention that would help to deliver on all your objectives—tree planting. Given that the Welsh Government has also declared a climate emergency, why is the Government failing so drastically in its own tree planting targets? It is a universally accepted fact that trees are a huge potential to reduce carbon dioxide levels, and yet the targets you have set yourselves, if, indeed, you are truly committed to targets, of just 2,000 hectares per year, are in themselves derisory, but you are falling woefully short of even that target. You set aside £1 million for the 2018-19 window for planting, which amounts to 240 hectares, or just 43,000 trees—12 per cent of your annual target. Contrast this with the figures for Scotland, and even Ireland. Scotland will be planting over 11,000 acres of woodland in this year alone—that's 20 million trees. Ireland has delivered 5,000 hectares of new woodland—that's nearly 10 million trees per annum for the last four years.

Is it not true, Minister, that the Welsh Government is woefully neglectful of its duty to establish sensible targets for tree planting, and even more woefully neglectful of providing the budget to deliver anything like the number of trees needed to combat climate change? And, I repeat, Minister, is this not an example of a Welsh Government being strong on the rhetoric of combating climate change but short on delivering some of the most important interventions necessary to achieve the climate change objective? And just one last point—

No. It's Christmas, but even a question of two and a half minutes long is just stretching even me and my Christmas spirit. So, I'll ask the Minister to respond. 

Well, when it comes to rhetoric, I don't think I can compete with the Brexit Party. I did talk about tree planting yesterday when I launched the consultation for the clean air plan. I will be the first to admit that we haven't been planting the numbers of trees that I would want to see and that we will need to have if we are going to reach our decarbonisation targets. There is a great deal of work going on at the present time, and has been, I would say, for the last year, around the number of trees we are able to plant. We have planted, I think, over 16 million trees in the last three years. A lot of that will have been restocking; we need to be looking at new areas. You'll be aware of the First Minister's manifesto commitment to have a national forest, and that has really been a focus for my officials over the last few months and I will be coming forward with more information around the national forest when we come back in the new year. 

I think what the national forest will do is that it will accelerate reforestation, but it also will look to others. We can't do it on our own. Welsh Government cannot do this on our own. We need others to help us, and that will be part of the national forest. 

Half of the answer to my question is done anyway. The Confederation of Forest Industries claimed recently that funding for tree planting is just a third of what it needs to be if Welsh Government is to meet its minimum targets. They went on to say that millions more pounds need to be put into tree planting if Wales is to have any chance of meeting the climate emergency aspiration. Minister, you just said that a great deal of work is ongoing at the moment. Is the funding available, and what is your timescale and targets to achieve what you have already promised—at least 2,000 hectares each year? So, how long will it take, and when are you going to be near the target, which, at the moment, is 80 per cent less? Thank you. 

So, I go back to what I said in my answer to David Rowlands. Welsh Government can't do it on our own. We need others to help us to do this. We need others to bring funding forward. We need others to bring land forward. We put significant funding into our tree and woodland expressions of interest window in relation to Glastir. There is also funding available within the sustainable management scheme projects. Within our 'Sustainable Farming and our Land' consultation, one are where I think everyone is in agreement is that farmers could look to perhaps planting more trees on their land, and certainly they seem very keen to do that when we take forward that scheme. 

I'm doing a great deal of work with NRW. The board of NRW has already approved an umbrella woodland creation programme, with funding available. That will incorporate new and existing schemes and projects. 

If we're going to get large numbers of trees planted, then we need a plan, not a national target. Will the Welsh Government set annual targets at local authority level, designate land for tree planting, or ask local authorities to designate land for tree planting like they do in the local development plan for housing, and set a minimum number of trees to be planted per house for each new housing development, so we actually have a method of going forward, rather than just aspirations? 

We don't currently have any plans for setting targets at the local authority level. However, I think local authorities have a very important role to play. You will have just heard me say that we can't do it on our own; we need others to work with us. I know that many local authorities are working to increase the canopy cover in their areas and they're looking to expand planting on local authority-owned land and encouraging more infrastructure. And yesterday, in the clean air plan oral statement, you may have heard me say that one thing we're looking at is tiny forests, and these are small pieces of land, and quite often public sector land in hospitals or schools, for instance, where we can look to plant just a small amount of trees. Clearly, local authorities would have a role to play in that.