Is it likely to impact on environmental protection of the forests, or public access?
There are concerns that the priority of the company leasing the land would be to make a profit, meaning biodiversity could suffer, as well as public access and tourism. However, the Scottish Government said it has given a commitment that public access to leisure and recreation trails and sites will not be affected. Could there be job losses as a result? There are widespread fears that jobs could suffer both within the Forestry Commission and in industries that rely on forests. But environment minister Michael Russell has guaranteed there will be no compulsory redundancies. Scottish bill to put us at forefront of world THE measures to allow the Scottish Government to lease out 25 per cent of its forests will be included in a long-awaited Climate Change Bill. The bill is due to be published today, although the details are unlikely to be made public until tomorrow. It is expected the bill will include world-beating legislation, such as: &149 A target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by
