Managing woodlands to combat climate change

Climate change is a long term shift in the temperatures and weather patterns we experience. 

It is caused by the release of Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) like carbon dioxide and methane, which stay in our atmosphere and trap the sun’s heat. 

The more GHGs in our atmosphere the higher the temperature and the greater climate change, we will experience.

Higher global temperatures melt polar ice caps, cause sea level rises and create instability in our weather systems resulting in more frequent, intense and unseasonal:

• storms
• heatwaves
• water scarcity
• drought
• flooding
• wildfires

The United Nations (UN) urges nations to develop and implement mitigation strategies that:

• minimise the speed and eventual level of climate change (by reducing or preventing emissions)
• establish resilience strategies that allow us to cope with the climate change that does take place

The Climate Change Committee’s current advice is to plan for a global temperature rise of 2°C and assess the risks up to 4°C.

Forestry has a significant role to play in reducing the rate and impact of climate change by:

• removing carbon from the atmosphere and locking it up in growing trees

• promoting sustainable forest management through the UK Forestry Standard

  Supporting home-grown timber means we are not harvesting from unsustainably managed woodlands nor increasing carbon emissions through importation.

  UK Forestry Standard, 5th edition

• substituting wood products for materials that release large volumes of greenhouse gases in their production, such as:

  • concrete
  • plastic and steel

  Using timber for long-term products like furniture and housing, as well as re-using and recycling forest products:

  • helps ensure that the carbon sequestered is not lost back to the atmosphere
  • supports the use of wood fuel and renewable energy as a substitute for fossil fuels
• helping communities to adapt and become more resilient through, for example:
  • flood and landslide mitigation
  • improving air, soil and water quality
  • providing shade and shelter
  • cooling urban areas

What are we doing to grow our forests?

The Scottish Government’s Climate Change Plan includes ambitious targets for creating new woodlands, aiming to increase forest and woodland cover from around 18% to 21% of the total area of Scotland by 2032.

There are a wide range of options for woodland creation and woodland management.  In the right circumstances, all woodland types and options can help reduce the effects of climate change.

Slower growing broadleaves can collect high carbon reserves within the woodlands themselves over the longer term. 

Faster growing conifers can:

• sequester more quickly in the medium to long term
• produce wood products that substitute for high greenhouse gas emitting materials and fossil fuels in the longer term

This supports Scotland’s:

• economy
• green recovery
• job creation

Home grown timber also ensures we reduce offshoring of our wood production to natural forests. 

Read our climate change mitigation information note for more information.

Information Note: climate mitigation woodland creation and management

When timber is harvested with consideration for future impacts, we:

• responsibly produce a valuable resource
• preserve forests for future generations

Most of the houses in Scotland are made of timber. But you may not immediately identify this because timber makes up the frame and internal structures of the house. 

Timber structures:

• can be erected quickly
• can help reduce the energy costs of a house
• have better environmental credentials than most other construction materials

By using timber in construction we use less CO2. Using wood in construction also locks away the carbon for the lifetime of the building.

The main threats to forestry are:

• temperature - increased generally, and an increase in the length and severity of high temperatures

• pests and diseases - increased risk due new pests that can survive in a changing climate, and an increase in more susceptible trees due to other stressors

  Prevent pests and diseases

• frost - reduced number but changed timing, such as occasional hard frosts which are particularly damaging after bud-burst and during lamas growth

• wildfire – increased due to reduced rainfall and higher temperatures

  Prevent wildfires

• flooding and waterlogging – increased due to change in intensity of rainfall

  Managing water

• windthrow - increased storm frequency and intensity - overall tree stability is also reduced by:

  • successive storm events
  • drought
  • saturated ground

  Prepare for storms

• drought – increased due to change in distribution of rainfall

In recent years it is becoming increasingly apparent that these threats are not isolated. Together, they are having a compound negative effect on the health and vigour of our forests.