Forestry Commission - News - statistics on woodland area, planting and restocking published

The latest National Statistics from the Forestry Commission show that nearly half of the United Kingdom's woodland is certified as being sustainable and well managed, including all woodland managed by the Commission and the Forest Service in Northern Ireland.

The figures on woodland area, planting and restocking (replanting after harvesting) were released by the Forestry Commission on 12 June 2008 according to the arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority.

The figures contain provisional statistics for the year to March 2008 on:

UK woodland area;
certified woodland area; and
areas of new planting and restocking.

The key points, in total for the UK, are that:

the estimated woodland area is 2.84 million hectares (12 per cent of the surface area of the UK). Of this, 820,000 hectares are owned or managed by the Forestry Commission (in Great Britain) or the Forest Service (in Northern Ireland);
the total certified area is 1.27 million hectares, including all Forestry Commission and Forest Service woodland. Overall, 45 per cent of the woodland area is certified;
7000 hectares of new woodland were created, mostly with broadleaved species; and
18,000 hectares of woodland were restocked, mostly with conifers.

The statistics are available from a link at www.forestry.gov.uk/statistics.

For further information, visit www.forestry.gov.uk/statistics or contact Jackie Watson, Forestry Commission Economics and Statistics; tel: 0131 314 6171; e-mail: statistics@forestry.gsi.gov.uk.

NOTES TO EDITOR:

Forest certification is a process for inspecting forest management against a set of standards that will assure buyers of timber and other forest products that they come from sustainable, well managed forests. Forests' management is audited, or inspected, by independent auditors against minimum standards required for aspects such as nature conservation, replanting and regeneration of harvested woodland, environmental protection and community engagement. The principle certification standard used in the UK is the UK Woodland Assurance Standard (UKWAS), and forest owners whose management is certified as meeting the UKWAS may display the logo of the independent, international Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) on their products. For further information visit www.ukwas.org.uk and www.fsc.org.
The Forestry Commission and the Forest Service of Northern Ireland are the government departments for forestry in Great Britain and Northern Ireland respectively. For further information visit www.forestry.gov.uk and www.forestserviceni.gov.uk.

NEWS MEDIA CONTACT: Charlton Clark, tel. 0131 314 6500.