Plan to plant 66,000 hectares of forest in Wales ‘could threaten Welsh language’

Planting forests all over Wales could drive 1,400 farming families off the land and threaten the Welsh language, a farmers’ union has warned.

The NFU Cymru Rural Affairs Board fear that plans to cost of fighting climate change with decarbonisation could fall unequally on Wales’ farming community.

The Welsh Government is expected to publish its first Low Carbon Delivery Plan next March, following consultation over the summer setting out its proposals for each sector on the low carbon pathway.

For land use and forestry, the proposals include 66,000 hectares of additional tree planting at a rate of 2,000-4,000 hectares a year on Welsh land.

It has been suggested that 90% of this will be afforestation with 10% taking the form of agro-forestry.

Commenting after the meeting, NFU Cymru Rural Affairs Board chairman, Hedd Pugh said: “To put Welsh Government’s current proposals into context, the average farm size in Wales is 48ha.

“To achieve afforestation on the scale proposed would require the complete afforestation of some 1,400 farms in Wales.

“That is the removal of 1,400 farming families from the land, all of whom make a valuable contribution to their local economy, rural communities and the Welsh language.

“It is vital before moving forward, that Welsh Government undertakes a full assessment of the impact on the farming families affected, our rural communities and language, the economy and the environment.

“In the absence of a full regulatory impact assessment, we remain wholly unconvinced that Welsh Government is seeking to strike an appropriate balance between decarbonisation and meeting wider economic, environmental, social and cultural objectives.”

‘Unsustainable’

He did, however, say he recognised the important role that farmers would play in contributing to the decarbonisation agenda in Wales.

“Farmers are already making a significant contribution through achieving efficiencies in production; through investment in renewable energy technologies, as well as other practical measures, such as tree and hedgerow establishment and management on their farms,” he said.

“It is disheartening that this work is not recognised in the inventory for agriculture, and a more balanced net carbon position should be established for Welsh farms, recognising the positive contribution of these activities.

“It is important that Welsh Government does not seek to reach targets in Wales by ‘off-shoring’ food production to other parts of the world.

“This would be a wholly unsustainable position for Welsh Government to adopt and would not align with the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015, which recognises the fundamental priority of safeguarding food security.

“Our Board today was clear, that whilst farmers are very keen to continue to contribute to the decarbonisation agenda for Wales, indeed, we are one of the few sectors who can actually sequester carbon through our activities.

“Targets must not be achieved through the displacement of people and communities.”