New manifesto from Conservative Environment Network comes amid fears government could break promise on peat compost ban and relax UK emissions targets.
A group of over 30 Conservative Parliamentarians have today backed wide-ranging proposals to boost tree-planting rates and expand woodland across the UK, as the tussle over which environmental policies will make it into the main Parties' manifestos intensifies.
The Conservative Environment Network (CEN), which represents a caucus of over 130 Tory MPs and peers, today published a new manifesto - titled 'Branching Out' - that puts forward a series of proposals for how to restore and expand woodlands across the country. The package of policy proposals has been backed by 32 parliamentarians with the group hoping some of the measures will be adopted in the Party's manifesto for the upcoming general election.
The proposals follow a series of critical reports that have accused the government of failing to deliver on tree-planting goals. The government has countered that tree-planting has increased in recent years and new farming subsidy reforms should result in a a further major uptick.
But today's manifesto argues that a lack of tree-planting has left the UK as the third biggest importer of timber in the world, at a time when demand for timber and sustainable biomass is set to increase due to the development of more sustainable buildings and the expansion of biomass energy plants. Moreover, the UK remains one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world, in part because of its relative low levels of tree cover.
The manifesto sets out a series of proposals for boosting forest health and tree planting across five key areas: protecting existing trees; boosting timber security; integrating trees into the farmed landscape; reviewing the consumption of wood products for bioenergy; and enhanced public sector procurement and land management.
Specifically, it calls for the government to create investment zone-style Forestry Creation Zones, cut red tape for targeted locations in England to boost tree planting, and provide clearer guidance to local authorities on the best locations for tree-planting.
It also proposes an update to the UK's Deer Management Strategy to boost venison harvesting, and calls for regular reviews of the Sustainable Farming Incentive program to ensure upland farmers who commit to planting trees are fairly compensated.
And it calls for more rigorous enforcement and a strengthening of biomass energy imports, including a requirement for producers of biomass energy to demonstrate full financial transparency in order to receive subsidies after 2027.
"Trees are vital for our natural environment, our well-being, and our communities," said Kitty Thompson, senior nature programme manager at CEN. "Conservatives in particular attach a philosophical importance to trees. We take pride in planting saplings now to give future generations trees, woodlands, and forests to enjoy and benefit from.
"At the last general election, political parties engaged in a bidding war on the number of trees they would plant in government. With an incredibly ambitious target to now meet, we must harness private finance, not just public money and charitable efforts. With the next general election now firmly on the horizon, we need a realistic and practical approach to tree planting that empowers farmers and land managers, not top-down diktats. This manifesto puts forward a set of policy recommendations to help do exactly that."
The manifesto has been backed by former Environment Secretary Theresa Villiers, who urged the government to take up the proposals and redouble efforts to meet its tree-planting targets.
"We are falling short of hitting those targets and current efforts to meet them are insufficient," she said. "It's time for a bold new approach. Stripping away red tape and making it much easier for landowners to access funding for planting the millions of trees we need would really boost our environmental mission. The government should designate ‘Forestry Creation Zones' to streamline the process of accessing funding in the right places, helping get our targets back on track. By having designated zones to plant new forests, we can help maximise tree coverage, and boost our timber security and biodiversity, without impacting on prime agricultural land."
The launch comes amid growing concerns that a separate campaign from Villiers to ensure the government honours a previous pledge to ban the sale of horticultural peat during this Parliament could fall short.
The i newspaper reported this weekend that a Private Members Bill put forward by Villiers that would ban the sale of peat-based compost for domestic use from the end of this year, as promised by Boris Johnson's government, is likely to be blocked when it has its second reading later this week.
Conservative MP Sir Christopher Chope is expected to continue his practice of formally blocking private members bills by shouting ‘object' ahead of any vote. Chope has repeatedly blocked legislation, arguing he does so on a point of principle that bills scheduled for a vote on a Friday do not receive adequate scrutiny.
The government has said it remains committed to introducing a ban and will set out its proposals following the second hearing of Villiers' bill. But insiders are sceptical Parliamentary time for a government-backed bill can be secured ahead of a general election, likely later this year.
"We need the UK government to take this bill forward, not to break another environmental promise," Ailis Watt, public affairs officer for The Wildlife Trusts told The i. "Banning the sale of bagged peat compost is a hugely popular policy and an essential one. Leaving this to the next government will be too late and would disregard the views of the public who believe this should become law."
A previous consultation on the proposals saw overwhelming support from respondents for a ban.
But speaking during the first reading of the bill last month, Chope insisted the bill would "not go unopposed", arguing that peat-free composts were not as an effective.
A Defra spokesperson said: "We remain committed to ending the use of horticultural peat across the country. Since we set out our plans to ban the sale of peat in 2022, there has been a 59 per cent reduction in peat use and we continue to work extensively with industry to move towards a peat-free horticulture sector."
Meanwhile, separate reports this weekend highlighted growing concerns among green groups that the government could reject the advice of the Climate Change Committee (CCC) and relax emissions targets for the next carbon budget.
The UK overachieved against its most recent carbon budget and has the option of rolling forward additional emissions savings to count towards the future budget periods. Such a move would make near term targets easier to meet, but the CCC recently warned it would then require deeper emissions cuts in the longer terms, making it harder to reach the goal of net zero emissions by 2050. It also warned the move would create a false impression of progress towards net zero, given the additional emissions savings were largely a result of disruption caused by the pandemic and slower than expected economic growth in recent years.
But the government is yet to confirm whether it will roll forward additional emissions savings and experts are increasingly concerned Ministers could look to take advantage of the loophole.
Dustin Benton, policy director at Green Alliance, told the Guardian that the government would be making "a grave error of judgment if it weakens plans to cut emissions, ‘carrying forward' a right to burn carbon that only exists because the UK economy has grown less quickly than we thought when we set the third carbon budget in 2008".
A government spokesperson reiterated that the UK had met all its carbon budgets to date and confirmed Ministers would make a "decision on whether the UK's overachievement on the third carbon budget is carried over will be made in due course".
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