ONE-QUARTER of Scotland will be covered by woodland under ambitious plans to expand the country's forestry industry and encourage the use of wood as a renewable energy resource.

Despite a downturn in the value of timber since the mid1990s, ministers are confident the sector can be turned around by creating new markets for forestry and its byproducts. These including using more timber in the building industry and burning wood chip - produced as waste from commercial sawmills - to fuel boilers in schools and public buildings. The new Scottish Forestry Strategy, published today, also aims to create "carbon dioxide sinks" which will contribute to Scottish Executive targets on climate change by absorbing carbon emissions.

Around 17-per cent of Scotland is covered by woodland - the highest proportion since the time of Robert the Bruce, according to research by the executive. The new plans, which update Scotland's first forestry strategy from 2000, aim to expand this rapidly by planting 50-per cent more trees every year, with the goal of having 25-per cent coverage of the country by the second half of the century.

Rhona Brankin, Environment Minister, said the strategy would seek to change the use of Scotland's woodlands, making them more accessible for communities and building on the GBP60m they are estimated to generate each year from forestry-related tourism.

She said: "We have a huge opportunity through the forestry strategy to make a major contribution to tackling climate change. We're looking at planting 9000 hectares of newwoodland each year, up from 6000 hectares at the moment.

"The key difference with this strategy is that we now have climate change at the heart of it, which absolutely fits in with what we're saying about promoting the well-being of the planet as well as of people."

The strategy marks a departure from the mass planting in the 1960s and 70s of singlespecies crops, mostly softwoods such as conifers, towards a greater emphasis on native species and the role forests play in promoting biodiversity and protecting endangered species.

It aims to increase the proportion of native species from 29-per cent to about 35-per cent by 2050. This would be done by removing non-native species from established woodlands and planting new native forests.

The forestry industry envisaged in 50 years by the strategy will have moved away from clear felling as the primary means of managing Scotland's woodlands towards a multipurpose use. This includes providing fuel for the burgeoning biomass sector, which utilises woodchip to provide fuel. There are more than 50 biomass developments in Scotland, including plans for a biomass power station at Lockerbie.

For the launch of the strategy today Ms Brankin is due to meet pupils from Taylor High School in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, which is due to become the first school in Scotland to install a biomass boiler.

Gerry McCormick, the school's headteacher, said the boiler would heat the school using wood provided from local forests and served an educational purpose by showing renewable energy in practice.

The forestry strategy aims for an expansion of the private sector, which currently is responsible for just in excess of 65-per cent of Scotland's woodlands. It invests around GBP60m a year.

The amount of timber produced commercially would be increased from around seven million cubic metres each year to around eight- and-a-half million cubic metres over the same period. However, the strategy aims to see the quality of timber improved by having bettermanaged forests. This, it is hoped, will help to reverse a decline in the value of timber over the past 10 years.

Simon Hodge, head of policy at Forestry Commission Scotland, said the new strategy represented the "coming of age" of the forestry sector.

"We are now looking at climate change issues and dealing with biodiversity outcomes and social outcomes. The sector is becoming clever enough to deliver all these things from forestry."