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REFORESTATION IN SCOTLAND
ATH-CHOILLTEACHADH ANN AN ALBA
THE PROBLEM
The problem started around 6000 years ago. The population of Scotland started to grow and more farmers needed land for animals to graze and for crops to be grown. As you could guess, this was bad business for trees. The population kept on growing and growing and more and more forests were removed. In the early 1900s forest cover was reduced to only 5% of Scotland’s total area.
This changed in 1919. The government recognised the lack of timber as a strategic problem for the country and decided to address the issue by introducing The forestry act of 1919. These forests main purpose, however, was to maximise timber production.
With a deeper understanding of the environment, came a more sophisticated approach for replanting forests. It became clear that intensive, single purpose forests were unsustainable in the long run. So they decided to adopt the definition of The second Ministerial Conference on the protection of forests in Europe. Which basically says that any use of the forest should not cause damage to other ecosystems.
FACTS
SCOTLAND'S TREE COVER
In the 2000, forests represented 20,5 % of Scotland's land cover, of which only 8.6% was natural forest.
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FORESTS FOR AIR QUALITY
Forests filter the air, remove harmful pollutants and sequester CO2, reducing global warming. Scottish natural forest loss during the last 7 years is equivalent to 8,3 Mt of CO2 emissions.
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FORESTS SUSTAIN 80% OF TERRESTIAL BIODIVESITY
In Scotland, most of the woodland is made-up of non-native species, threatening indigenous biodivesity.
More info here.
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308 KHA OF FOREST HAVE BEEN LOST BETWEEN 2001 AND 2019
Three regions are the responsible for the 53% of the loss; Highland, Dumfries and Galloway and Argyll and Bute.
FOREST AND TIMBER INDUSTRY
Logging is one of the main reasons behind deforestation. Wood fiber and timber represent the biggest plantation type in Scotland, expanding to 32% of the plantation area.
FUTURE PLANS: RECOVERING WOODLANDS AND FOREST
For the year 2032, Scottish government wants to increase tree cover up to 32% by creation and restoration of native woodlands. Some projects have already started and forest cover is recovering.
WHY REFOREST
Now you might be wondering why it is important to have healthy forests, and why we should protect ecosystems. Which we will tell you about now.
- Supporting the economy: The timber industry is a huge part of the Scottish economy. Forestry and timber industry accounts for 285 million pounds gross value added and provides more than 30.000 jobs. This is more than the fishing industry!
- Mitigate the impact of climate change: As we all probably know, climate change is one of the biggest problems humanity is facing this day. Trees have as a property that they take up CO2, one of the main greenhouse gases, from the atmosphere, and are able to store it. By removing CO2 from the atmosphere global warming could be kept to a minimum.
- Improve people’s lives: Forests allow people to participate in healthy activities such as exercising or relaxing. It has been shown that forests can promote our mental health, by reducing stress and enabling psychological rehabilitation. In addition, forests visits may strengthen the immune system. All of this is very nice, especially if you consider that only 63% of the Scottish population has visited a forest in 2014.
OUR FORESTS AND THE STATISTICS
Maps may help to show how is the current situation of forests in Scotlad. Below you can check the changes in forest cover. In the first map, swipe to the right and left to see the difference in the tree cover between in the 2000 and 2018. The second map shows the forest covered areas, deforested areas, reforested areas and governement selected areas for reforestation.
Left map represent forest type areas from year 2000, right map represent forest type areas from 2018.
This visualization shows the forest classification based on the Corine Land Cover between the years 2000 and 2018. For coniferous forest, we see a decrease of 2.2%. This kind of soft wood is used for the production of timber. We see mostly an increase in transitional woodland-shrubs (114.9%) which are mostly young plantations. According to the government plan for the next generation of forest, they emphasize more on mixed forest. That’s why we see a big increase in mixed forest which is almost 461%. Human effort and natural progression of broad-leaved forest produced an increase of 29.6% over the years.
Changes in forest areas between 2000 and 2018, Forest Grand Scheme for 2012-2018
According to Corine Land Cover and national statistics the existing forested areas is around 1,100,000 ha and is shown in green. By calculation between 2000 and 2018 the lost area of forest is roughly 120,000 ha and is represented in red and the gain is roughly 335,000 ha which is an increase of 196% and is shown in blue. As well as you can see the orange areas which are places located by the government for reforestation between the years 2012 and 2028. Some of those are already reforested and afforested as well in the existing forest some areas needs to be more dense by other species.
HOW CAN I HELP
We of course understand that there are spots where you wouldn’t want forests to be planted or there could be spots which you think are very suitable to plant forests. For this we have created an interactive map where you can add pins for places you want to preserve or places where you think it would be good to add forests. With this approach we hope to connect with the people and try to involve them as much as possible. Also you get an overview about how people in your area feel about different places with respect to forests. The green pins on the map show that people appreciate forest in this area, red pins indicate that people prefer to keep this area an open landscape, clear of forest.
Web map for forests in Scotland
If you got excited about forests now, you can find a list of a few initiatives that are already active in or support you in working on the reforestation of Scotland.
- “Reforesting Scotland” is an initiative with several projects around the country working on reforestation. You can also get involved by following their activities, join their events or reading their publications!
- Near the Alladale Wilderness Reserve the Project “Mossy Earth” is working on restoring the native Caledonian pinewood, such as Scots pine and downy birches. They also focus on developing the local ecosystem by focusing on some of the local animals, such as eagles and Atlantic Salmon.
- “Trees for life” wants to restore native forests and wildlife habitats. You can help as a volunteer to plant trees! They also organize a range of events across the year to learn about forests and nature.
- Wanna go big? The Scottish government provides funding when you want to start your own initiative to create woodland! Click here for more information.
ALBA GU BRÀTH
Metadata document, link here.