Impact of the industrial forestry sector in Scotland

1 August 2025

We are publishing a series of papers focused on drivers behind the industrial forestry sector in Scotland and analysing the impacts that the sector is having on land use, land reform and community wealth building. Community Land Scotland members have raised concerns about the impact of industrial coniferous forestry in their local areas, and we as an organisation are concerned about the role of industrial forestry corporations and asset management organisations in further consolidating the ownership and management of Scotland’s forests. These papers are designed to prompt discussion about industrial forestry and what an alternative forestry sector could look like in Scotland which prioritises sustainable timber, community wealth building, climate and biodiversity.

If Scotland wants to be building community wealth, sequestering carbon, building timber security and producing high quality timber, how our forests are managed needs to be reformed. A clear way of reforming them would be to change some of the ownership patterns, allowing more local ownership and ensuring forests are actively managed over longer timescales to grow quality timber.

We support the need for radical land reform and in recent years have published occasional Discussion papers which can contribute to understanding, provoke and encourage discussion on issues relevant to the land question in Scotland. The research undertaken for any of these papers and any statements and views expressed in them as a result are the sole responsibility of the authors. We are not obliged to publish any contributions we receive or responses to the papers we publish.

Thanks to Willie McGhee and Jon Hollingdale for these valuable and thought-provoking papers.

Photo credits – Ted Leeming

To learn more please contact Dr Josh Doble.