ICF Joins Forestry Sector Climate Change Accord
Image © CLA
ICF has joined a group of leading forestry organisations in signing a Climate Change Accord, which aims to secure more resilient woodlands to benefit business and wildlife.
Commitments include supplying and growing a greater diversity of tree species as well as considering the provenance of seed to give the forests of the future the greatest chance of continuing to provide the many benefits they do, particularly in the face of damaging pests and diseases.
Forestry Commission Chair Sir Harry Studholme said:
“Forestry is a long term business and decisions we take today have to be relevant in ten, fifty or even a hundred years. In recent decades we have had the luxury of stability that has led our sector to grow and process a narrow range of species managed under simple silvicultural systems.
“The future is less certain but we do know circumstances will be different. Forestry professionals have always been adaptable and we can make informed decisions and take action now to reduce and spread the risk to our businesses and the benefits forests provide to society.”
The Accord arose from work initiated by the English Climate Ready Support Service and Forestry Commission England in 2014, as a response to the threats to forestry and woodlands set out in the UK’s first Climate Change Risk Assessment. The Accord provides an English perspective on climate change adaptation and represents the sector’s contribution under the first National Adaptation Programme report.
Read the full Accord on the Forestry Commission website.
