Abbreviation ConFor Legal status Non-profit company | Formation 2004 Region served UK | |
Purpose Trade association for forestry in the UK Location 59 George St, Edinburgh, EH2 2JG | ||
The Confederation of Forest Industries, shortened to ConFor, is the trade association for the forestry industry in the United Kingdom.
Contents
It was established to represent forestry and wood-using businesses, from nurseries and growers, to wood-processing end-users. It was created to represent the views of the industry to the Forestry Commission and the policy makers within the relevant legislatures and executives.
Structure
It has the largest membership of any representative body within the UK sector and is headquartered in Edinburgh.
Regions
History
ConFor was created in 2004 and is the first organisation of its kind that has the entire supply chain within its membership, from nurseries and woodland owners, to processors and sawmills. This makes it different from other nations as the trade associations of the forest and wood-using industries are split within the different competing constituents of the supply chain. It is a membership organisation that is funded by and accountable to businesses within the industry.
Policy
The organisation lobbies governments, parliaments and assemblies of the United Kingdom, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland on behalf of members. As a member of the Confederation of European Forest Owners it also lobbies for its members at the European Parliament. Since devolution, rural policy making has been passed to the devolved administrations of the UK, meaning that strategy can vary over the different parts of the country. The devolved administrations of Scotland and Wales have produced their own forestry strategies: The Scottish Forestry Strategy and Woodlands for Wales which both view forestry as an integral part in the efforts to tackle climate change. In Scotland and Wales forestry policy resides within the Forestry Commission where, as, in England forestry policy resides in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) with the Forestry Commission England implementing policy.
Context
Forestry in the UK is split between the Forestry Commission, which is a government agency and the private sector. It breaks down between the private and public sector as:
Britain has seen one of the fastest growing forests programmes since the establishment of the Forestry Commission in 1919 and the general need to restock the nation's forests after the First World War with a total 2.8 million hectares of woodland, some of which is the most productive in Europe. There was no forestry policy within the United Kingdom until after the First World War, one of the few exceptions in Europe, Despite this it still lags behind nearly all other European countries. The UK is fifth last on 11.6% coverage compared to the European average of 36% coverage. The trend in Britain reflects the wider trend in Europe of a growing forestry sector over the last 50 years. This is set to increase as the governments of Europe look to forestry as part of a renewable energy strategy and for its carbon sequestration capabilities to tackle climate change.