PLANS UNVEILED by the Scottish Government which would see a 3.7% increase in Scotland’s forested areas have been strongly criticised by NFU Scotland.

“The blunt tool of diverting resources to planting trees on good agricultural land is a trap we must avoid,” said NFUS head of rural policy, Jonnie Hall.

“We believe the ongoing land use debate, sparked by the Scottish Government’s forthcoming Land Use Strategy, must focus on preserving and enhancing the benefits delivered by active farming and food production, including the industry’s role in tackling climate change.

“The Scottish Government’s current plans for meeting climate change targets revolve around a forestry-based approach, but we are unconvinced that such an approach will achieve anything positive and a more sophisticated approach to tackling the issue is required, rather than simply expanding tree cover across productive agricultural land.”

Commenting on plans that would see 100 million trees planted in Scotland by 2015, Mr Hall said: “The Scottish Government has set itself the target of forestry coverage on 25% of Scotland’s land. Any expansion in forestry area is likely to take place on ground traditionally used for grazing livestock.

“In addition, 1200 hectares of ‘greenfield’ – an area the size of a large town – is lost every year to housing and industrial development. That development is also taking place on some of Scotland’s most productive arable land, with that limited resource lost to food production forever.”

He added: “The challenge for the Scottish Government is to address whether the priority lies with active farming and food production, and all the rural development co-products that go with that, or elsewhere. There is a limit to the uses that any area of land can deliver and the Scottish Government must recognise that if it is to reconcile a number of its aims.

“Better integration between separate policy areas such as farming and food, forestry, flooding and biodiversity – all of which are linked to land use and require some degree of co–ordination and co–operation – must be tackled in the forthcoming land use strategy.”

Scotland’s forestry plans are part of a global pledge made by the Climate Group States and Regions to plant one billion trees by 2015. Other member states include California, Catalonia and Quebec and Manitoba.

Climate change minister Stewart Stevenson made the pledge while speaking at a conference in Edinburgh looking at the energy and climate change challenges facing Scotland and the UK.

Commenting on the initiative, he said: “Tackling climate change will require a huge international effort and this tree planting initiative will make an important contribution to reducing global emissions. Greater forest cover will help cut emissions through either directly absorbing CO2 or by providing more sustainable materials for construction and renewable energy.”