The Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) has shared scientific evidence with Welsh Government and demonstrated why hedgerows should be included in their 10% woodland requirement, but they have not taken this forward.
Research shows that good-sized hedgerows provide equal or better carbon storage than 1 ha of low-yield woodland of all species commonly planted in Wales. In several cases, the hedgerows exceed the carbon sequestration of moderate-yield woodland over ten years.
It seems very strange that a hawthorn bush in an area of scrub can be counted towards Welsh Government’s proposed woodland cover but a hawthorn bush within a hedge cannot. GWCT have shared evidence derived from work on the Hedgerow Carbon Code and other means of carbon capture on farms with Welsh Government to take forward within the SFS but unfortunately, they have not yet shown interest.
As an example of productive farming and wildlife recovery, GWCT’s own demonstration farm manages approximately 12 – 13% as ecologically enhanced habitat for wildlife recovery and has reversed farmland bird declines. GWCT maintain that nature recovery is possible alongside productive, profitable farming, with greatest efficiencies achieved by ecologically enhancing unproductive land.
Delivering wildlife recoveries more efficiently can also include other forms of conservation alongside habitat management such as predation management, although that’s another area Welsh Government have refused to look at the science or consider objectively.
The Welsh Government’s proposals of a compulsory 10% tree cover alongside 10% semi-natural habitat might be applauded by some conservation organisations, however if it is not realistic or is simply unachievable for farmers they will either not opt in or be forced out of business, both of which lead to dire consequences for Welsh wildlife and the environment. It is interesting that previous schemes have recognised that 5 – 7% of good quality (ecologically enhanced) habitat was enough to recover declining farmland bird populations, and if we recognise that good woodland is habitat too, the leap to a potential 20% habitat proposal seems vast.
GWCT are concerned that the latest Welsh Government Sustainable Farming Scheme consultation remains a consultation in name only. Despite consultations in various guises since 2018 when ‘Brexit and our Land’ was launched, Welsh Government appear to be no further forward in developing a realistic Agri-environment scheme which properly rewards farmers for nature recovery alongside profitable, productive farming.
The Welsh farming community is rightly up in arms defending their right to continue farming their land productively. With profit and loss margins already extremely narrow for many Welsh farms the proposals could be incredibly damaging.
Although a worst-case scenario, the economic report modelling the potential impact of the SFS is damning, with estimates of 10.8% livestock unit reductions and a work force reduction of 11% for the farming sector.
As GWCT Director Wales Lee Oliver says “If the sector is damaged, food security becomes an obvious issue, however Welsh Government have also failed to recognise the wider economic impact which will have a negative knock-on effect on the environment as well as other businesses that rely upon farming in rural areas. As farmers will tell you, they can’t be green if they are in the red.”
Therefore, if the 10% tree planting is purely to meet targets for carbon sequestration the science here is complex and far from straight forward and tree planting is an over simplified solution.