RSFS ANNUAL LECTURE:Reflections on changes in the forestry *sector over the past 40 years

摘要

My recent retirement has given me the time to reflect on the changes I have observed in the forestry sector over the past forty or so years. What follows is a personal perspective. I've used as my reference point the early 1970s, when I began my career, and my focus is on Scotland.A quick appraisal of how the sector has developedover the last forty years would undoubtedly lead to a generally positive report card. The area of woodland in the UK has increased by about 60% since the early seventies and the area of woodland in Scotland has nearly doubled (Figure 1) That's a woodlandcreation programme of around 700k ha, over forty years, which represents a very significant change in land use over a relatively short period of time. The significance of this shouldn't be underestimated. We mustn't forget that we have a very successfulhistory of deforestation yet we don't shy away from criticising other countries that are following a similar path and we are happy to sign up to global reforestation initiatives as if somehow this was something that was relevant to other countries but,perhaps, not to us. Given our history it seems entirely right that we have a reforestation programme in this country even if we might not all agree on its size, location and nature.