Scottish Forestry Forum public meeting 2002

 

The Forum was held at Battleby in Perthshire and was attended by around 150 delegates. The aims of this first public meeting of the Scottish Forestry Forum were to

• Report on what had happened since the Scottish Forestry Strategy was published.  Delegate packs included the report 'Delivering the Scottish Forestry Strategy' (which includes baseline measures for Indicators of Progress);
• Hear from participants about where more focus was needed in terms of implementing the Strategy;
• Promote interaction between people with different interests in forestry (eg economic, environmental or social).

The Deputy Minister for Environmental and Rural Development, Mr Alan Wilson, gave the opening address this was followed by a series of workshops which allowed delegates to consider implementation of a number of Strategy priorities in more depth. There was also one workshop session which focused on the future work of the Scottish Forestry Forum itself.  

In the afternoon there were three papers dealing with three of the Scottish Forestry Strategies' five principles. The first, prepared by Duncan Pollard and Adam Harrison of WWF (and delivered by Adam Harrison) discussed the principle of sustainability; the second, by Andrew Raven, discussed the principle of integration; and the third by Michael Bruce, discussed the principle of positive value.

The facilitator for the day Willie Roe, then summarised the output from the workshops.

There was then a discussion about where more focus is needed in terms of implementing the Scottish Forestry Strategy and about the future development of the forum and the role of the Steering Group. Those present were keen that there should be further meetings of the Forum, approximately at annual intervals; and that the Steering Group should meet more often to discuss matters in more depth. It was also suggested that the web be used to keep everyone in touch with the work of the Forum and, if possible, to promote discussion through 'chat rooms'.

Others referred to the value of maintaining contact between the Scottish Forestry Forum and other, regional, forums such as the Grampian Forest Forum and the Central Scotland Forest Forum.  It was also suggested that since this was the 10th anniversary of a forestry tour of Norway, it might be appropriate to organise a similar tour to Sweden.  

It was hoped that at future meetings of the Forum it might be possible for the Minister to stay for longer.  It was also considered important that key messages from meetings of the Forum should be fed back to members of the Scottish Executive. A report prepared by the Steering Group was submitted to the Minister.

Douglas Greig of the Scottish Executive, environment and Rural Affairs Department then gave a talk on forestry in the wider rural context. Finally, the day was closed by David Bills, Director General of the Forestry Commission who spoke of the critical factors  that had influenced Scottish forestry during his seven years as Director General.