Day 073 - 13 Jan 95 - Page 28
1 take any from old growth forest, which I think is what
2 McDonald's say the position is.
3
4 MR. MORRIS: But, to summarise, you are saying they should be
5 specifying that ----
6 A. They should be positively specifying -----
7
8 Q. -- to their suppliers.
9 A. - to their suppliers, yes.
10
11 Q. If we move on from that; I am trying to miss out as much as
12 I can. I am up to page 17 so far. On deforestation
13 England, this is page 19?
14 A. Yes.
15
16 Q. Has there been an analysis of the amount of ancient
17 woodland lost in Britain in recent times?
18 A. Yes.
19
20 Q. Could you summarise the position.
21 A. There has, not by the Forestry Authority itself but, in
22 fact, by English Nature, or, I think, previously called the
23 Nature Conservancy Council before some changes. They have
24 been doing surveys of it, of the loss of semi-natural and
25 ancient woodland in England and Wales. They estimate, or
26 they say that, in fact, 45 per cent of our ancient
27 woodlands have disappeared since the Second World War.
28 They say that 38 per cent of this has disappeared to
29 plantations, the overwhelming bulk of which are coniferous
30 plantations -- some of these are hybrid poplar plantations
31 -- a very small quantity, and about seven per cent has
32 disappeared for roads, land clearance and buildings and
33 things like that.
34
35 If you look at their figures in detail they say actually
36 since 1930, but the methodology they were using is that
37 they were using the 1930 Ordnance Survey map series as the
38 most available one. If you speak to them, and this is what
39 they will publicly say, that, in fact, the overwhelming
40 bulk of the loss is since the Forestry Act of 1947.
41
42 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I have to say at the moment I have a problem
43 with deforestation in the United Kingdom, bearing in mind
44 that the Second Plaintiff only came to this country in
45 1974. If I have missed a point on that, make sure I do not
46 miss it.
47
48 MR. MORRIS: The trees that -- this process that really you are
49 saying took off after the Second World War ----?
50 A. After '47, yes.
51
52 Q. - of replacement of native forests with coniferous
53 plantations, when are those trees -- well, it is an obvious
54 -- it is a leading question, but basically are those trees
55 now ones that are being harvested and have been the ones
56 that have been harvested over the last 10, 15, 20 years?
57 A. Those are the ones ----
58
59 Q. - for pulp production?
60 A. Yes. Those trees are now well into the harvesting.
