Mr. John Spink:

We tend to harvest forests when they are at maximum sequestration or in maximum growth, but there are a number of issues around when you harvest. The longer you can keep a forest growing at its maximum rate, the more carbon it will sequester. On Deputy Bruton's point about replacing concrete with timber, we must consider that there is an industry to process the timber, so we cannot halt timber harvesting. Also, as our forests become more mature, they are at a much higher risk of windthrow.

On paper, delaying harvesting will increase sequestration and will delay forestry switching from being a sink into a source. However there are a large number of considerations that need to be taken into account about it, and I do not think we are suggesting we should wholesale stop harvesting timber for a period of time. All of the issues Deputy Bruton has raised are relevant, but again the increased risk of windthrow as forests get larger would potentially halt any sequestration.