The role of trees is undervalued in climate change

A wide group of policy makers and key representatives gathered in Cardiff recently for a major conference: 'Forests and Climate Change - A Convenient Truth'.

Hosted by Forestry Commission Wales, the event held at the Millennium Centre featured a number of respected scientists and forestry experts who highlighted the valuable role that trees can play in helping to combat CO2 emissions, as well as to help Wales adapt to the already inevitable fact of climate change.

Delegates enjoyed the first showing of a bilingual DVD titled 'Forests and Climate Change: A convenient truth?' prepared by the Forestry Commission to help communicate the role of forestry in helping to tackle this global problem.

Startling insights at the conference included:.

* 8,000 years ago, half of the earth's land surface was covered by forest - today that figure is less than a third.

* Deforestation accounts for nearly a fifth of the world's greenhouse gas emissions - more than the whole of the international transport sector, including planes, put together.

* Yet the world's remaining forests continue to account for 90% of the annual interchange of carbon between atmosphere and land.

* Forest eco-systems contain more carbon than the atmosphere itself.

* More well managed woodlands can help to prevent flooding and reduce the temperature impact of climate change in our towns and cities.

* Building design - use of wood instead of concrete, plastic and steel - could result in a significant drop in greenhouse gas emissions.

* Burning wood from sustainably managed forests is a responsible response to help reduce CO2 emissions.

The key messages from the conference, compered by BBC Wales Political Correspondent Betsan Powys, were that trees can play both a constant, on-going role in reducing the detrimental effects of CO2 emissions and also help people adapt to the inevitable changes caused by a changing climate.

Responsible, sustainable woodland policies and management are therefore an effective way of tackling the threats posed by climate change.

Opening the conference, Rural Affairs Minister Elin Jones said, "The whole climate change debate is hugely important.

Even though Wales is small and forests cover just 14% of the land surface of Wales, we still have the ability to make a difference.

If the government isn't leading the way with the public forests that it owns, then how can we expect others to make the difficult choices required to make a bigger impact domestically and globally? "This is a complex debate, as we will learn later when we hear about the global carbon dynamic and some of the economic considerations.

But I'm very keen that we take some of these inherently complex issues and turn them into an easily understandable set of actions that will broadly mean that we are doing the 'right things' with the trees and forests of Wales.

This event is very timely because I am about to launch a public consultation on the Welsh Assembly Government's woodland strategy in which the role of trees and forestry in helping to tackle climate change will be a fundamental consideration.

The revision of the woodland strategy is our opportunity to re-assess it in light of the Assembly Government's One Wales commitment to create a Welsh National Forest of native trees to act as a carbon sink".

The conference speakers went on to present practical ways to tackle climate change, looking at how we should manage forests and woodlands for carbon storage, the mitigation role played by growing trees and the opportunities for wood as both a form of renewable energy and a sustainable building material.

Looking to the future and in terms of adapting to climate change, speakers also addressed what kind of forests and woodlands we will need and how land use in Wales and the UK will alter significantly in the coming years, driven by climate change.

In closing the conference, Jon Owen Jones, Chair Forestry Commission Wales National Committee, reiterated the words of several speakers as well as the conclusion of the DVD by saying that in relation to forests, "We have the knowledge to know what needs to be done, as well as the skills and the technology to do it.

We now need to show we also have the willpower to act as both individuals and as a society both domestically and internationally".

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