Issues relating to forest carbon’s role within the Scottish Government (SG) NetZero strategy, its changing nature and how it is quantified
This paper suggests research and data management actions, the better to measure forest carbon, and we make two forest practice suggestions to increase forest carbon uptake and storage.
• Forest carbon should be used to create community wealth building opportunities.
• Update WCC calculator to take full account of the carbon costs of forest establishment, particularly on peaty soils • Improve transparency in forest removal and clearfelling statistics.
• Change forest practice on peaty soils to minimise soil carbon emissions.
• Plant more diverse forests and manage them over longer rotations.
• Invest in long-term forest-soil carbon research on peaty soils.
• Update models to reflect modern forest practices and real harvesting data.
• Clarify ownership of carbon credits from harvested timber