Last week the Woodland Trust launched, 'A vision for woodland in Northern Ireland'; ePolitix.com speaks to Lee Bruce, government affairs officer at the Trust, about why the manifesto is needed in Northern Ireland.
Question: Why do you feel there was a need for this vision?
Lee Bruce: Northern Ireland is one of the least wooded regions in Europe with an average of six per cent cover compared to the European average of 44 per cent.
Primarily we see our vision building upon the 2006 forestry strategy, A Strategy for Sustainability and Growth. In part, we welcomed this document as it committed to doubling woodland cover in the province over the next 50 years.
However, the Trust believes that it failed to address several vital issues such as the protection and restoration of ancient woodland, climate change and its impact on woodland, and how government can deliver native woodland creation.
The Trust's vision for Northern Ireland is one where all woodland, old and new, native and non-native, will be valued for the wildlife it supports, will be easily accessible to people, and will be capable of mitigating against, and adapting to climate change.
Question: How do you envisage the Executive valuing ancient and long-established woodland?
Lee Bruce: In 2006, the Trust produced the Ancient Woodland Inventory, the first ever record of Northern Ireland's ancient and long-established woodland.
Ancient and long-established woodland is a diverse habitat and our equivalent of the rain forest. The Trust expects the Executive to afford absolute legislative protection for all woodland sites on the Ancient Woodland Inventory, and to encourage the restoration of all sites on this inventory planted with non-native conifers. In so doing, the Executive will protect the best of the resource and improve the quality of those woodland sites previously degraded.
To help ensure that the Executive is able to protect woodland they must in the first instance know where the resource is located. Consequently, we would also like the Executive to commit to both the maintenance of the Ancient Woodland Inventory and to create a national inventory of all woodland in Northern Ireland. An inventory of all woodland could then inform planning decisions and reduce the impact of development on the natural environment.
Question: Why is woodland creation so important to your vision?
Lee Bruce: There is a legacy in Northern Ireland of habitat removal, and consequently, the natural world is less rich and diverse than it was 50 years ago. The Trust believes that appropriately sited woodland is vital in restoring degraded habitats and integral to a sustainable future.
Woodland creation is therefore a component in any strategy to provide multi-functional green infrastructure for people, and habitats for wildlife. Crucially, the natural environment provides people with services such as clean water and air, high quality food and improved public health.
The government has previously committed to doubling woodland cover in the province, yet the current rate of planting will only increase the total area of wooded habitat by approximately a quarter.
The Trust wants a new Executive-led woodland creation strategy to deliver a doubling of woodland cover, primarily in the form of broadleaf species, in order to benefit wildlife and people. To attain such a goal, the Executive will have to treble the current rate of tree planting.
Question: How can woodland improve people's quality of life?
Lee Bruce: Woodland can make a significant contribution to society's quality of life by offering us respite and inspiring our imagination, creativity and culture. Both the UK Sustainable Development Commission and Mind have conducted research demonstrating that ready access to green space improves both physical and mental health and can facilitate social inclusion.
Woodland itself is an especially valuable type of green space because it can accommodate large numbers of people, reduce noise pollution and provide shading. We are asking the Executive to target grants to support woodland creation and to facilitate the opening up of existing woodland.
Question: How can the forthcoming Forestry Act help deliver on your vision?
Lee Bruce: Legislation is important in setting the framework to deliver much of what we ask for in our vision. In Northern Ireland, it is over 50 years since the last Forestry Act, and as a result, current legislation is antiquated and in need of a radical overhaul to reflect the needs of the 21st century.
Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK where you can fell woodland without a licence. The forthcoming act must correct this anomaly and protect all woodland by reintroducing the requirement for a felling licence. Any act must also widen the remit of Forest Service, the statutory agency responsible for forestry, so that it has the legal authority to deliver woodland management to benefit both people and wildlife.
In practice, this involves promoting its estate as a public amenity, protecting all ancient and long-established woodland in its ownership, and restoring all those ancient woodland sites in their ownership planted with non-native conifers.
To deliver the changes in our vision will require bold and dynamic leadership, new legislation at Stormont, and better targeting of resources by government bodies. The challenge we set for the Executive is to value, restore and expand Northern Ireland's woodland heritage.
