Pamela Abbott
Biography
Pamela Abbott is an independent member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature Executive Committee where she chairs its Ecosystem Restoration Working Group. Until recently, she was the Director of Natural Cambridgeshire and co-chaired the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Local Nature Recovery Strategy Steering Group. She is the founding Chair of Citizen Zoo and was a member of the Mayor of London’s Rewilding Taskforce.
Pamela’s career spans local, national and international biodiversity conservation with previous roles as Chief Executive of Norfolk Wildlife Trust, Director of Programmes at the UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre and Norfolk and Suffolk Area Manager at Natural England.
Forestry Commissioner
Forestry Commissioners have a number of specific statutory duties and powers, summarised in the Forestry Act as:
- promoting the interests of forestry
- the development of afforestation
- the production and supply of timber and other forest products
In practice, these mainly relate to providing incentives (grants), regulation though controls on felling, plant health issues and managing the public forest estate.
The Commissioners have a legal duty to seek a reasonable balance between the production and supply of timber and the interests of conservation. In promoting the multiple benefits of forestry, they also seek to take careful account of people’s needs and wishes, including local communities.