Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Advisers to publish forest review

Independent advisers appointed by the government are set to publish their report into what should happen with England's publicly owned forest estate.

The panel was set up in March 2011 after a ministerial U-turn on plans to sell off a chunk of its woodlands.

At the time, more than half-a-million people signed an online petition to protest against the policy.

The Woodland Trust says it hopes the panel recommends that the government sets an annual tree-planting target.

The Independent Forestry Panel - headed by the Right Reverend James Jones, Bishop of Liverpool - published a progress report in December 2011.

At the time, the panel's secretariat had received more than 40,000 responses from individuals and organisations regarding the future of England's forests.

There was widespread outrage when the government announced its intention to sell 258,000 hectares of state-owned woodlands.

Ministers faced criticism from a variety of well-known figures, including the Archbishop of Canterbury, Annie Lennox and Dame Judy Dench.

As a result of the public backlash, Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman said that she had got it wrong and put the sale on hold.

Speaking back in February, she told MPs: "I'm sorry. We got this one wrong, but we have listened to people's concerns."

The panel is set to publish its final recommendations to the government on Wednesday morning.

Campaigners have voiced concern that they do not think it will deter ministers from going ahead with the sale.

Other groups, such as the Woodland Trust, said that they hoped the panel would back calls for an annual tree-planting target, similar to the ones that have been introduced in Scotland and Wales.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18690019#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

lindzi cox redskins bachelor finale courtney robertson ben flajnik randy moss randy moss

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.