£5 million for National Forest in Wales

Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford has unveiled the exciting concept for a National Forest running the length and breadth of Wales.

Backed by £5 million in this year’s Budget, the National Forest will create areas of new woodland and help to restore and maintain some of Wales’ unique and irreplaceable ancient woodlands. A further £10 million of Glastir Woodland creation and restoration funding will be available to increase tree planting across Wales.

Drakeford said: “There is no escaping the huge environmental challenges the world is facing – the February floods have brought that home to us in Wales in the most devastating way. We have a responsibility to future generations to protect nature from the dangers of our changing climate but a healthy natural environment will also offer protection to our communities from the dangers we ourselves face.

“In planting, growing and protecting the right network of trees we can increase our resilience to flooding. Trees improve air quality, they remove harmful greenhouse gases from the atmosphere, they provide material for construction, they regenerate soil for food, they clean the water in our rivers and they provide a home to all the life that finds shelter in their canopy. We have described our ambition for a National Forest that extends the length and breadth of Wales. As well as significantly increasing our support for tree planting immediately, we will also be undertaking extensive engagement so this can be a collective effort with government, business and communities all working towards a shared goal.”