Tree Planting

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs – in the Senedd at 1:34 pm on 11 December 2019.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of David Rowlands David Rowlands UKIP 1:34, 11 December 2019

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—