Indicator assessment
The indicator shows the percentage of the
woodland area in the UK that is certified against agreed
environmental standards. Certification in the UK began in 1996 and
regular data collection commenced in 2004. In 2008, 44.6% of UK
woodland (1.3 million of a total of 2.8 million hectares) was
certified under the Forest Stewardship Council scheme. This is an
increase from 37.2% certified in December 2001.
Description of trends
Across the UK, the proportion of woodland
under certificated management schemes has increased from 37.2% in
2001 to 44.6% per cent in 2008. Over the same period, the
proportion of certified woodland has increased in England (from
25.5% to 30.2%) and Scotland (43.4% to 55.1%). It has remained
relatively stable in Wales at between 41.9% to 43.6% and has
fallen in Northern Ireland from 75.3% to 73.8%.
Relevance
Woodland certification assesses management
practices against agreed environmental standards. Certification
requires that wood products are harvested legally and sustainably
and that important wildlife habitats are identified and not
negatively impacted by management.
Background
Certification in the UK began in 1996, with
data collation starting in 2001, becoming a regular annual
collation in 2004. A breakdown by country, giving areas of
woodland under certified management is given in Table 7.
In order for products to achieve
certification, both forest management practices and the Chain of
Custody, which tracks timber from forest to retail outlet, must be
assessed.
Table 7. Area of woodland (thousands of ha) under certified
management in March 2008
|
|
England
|
Scotland
|
Wales
|
N
Ireland
|
UK
|
|
Total woodland area (‘000 ha)
|
1,127
|
1,342
|
285
|
87
|
2,847
|
|
Total certified area (‘000
ha)
|
341
|
740
|
121
|
64
|
1,266
|
Source: Forestry Commission: where possible, calculations have
used the total woodland area certified, rather than the total land
area certified.
Further development planned
There has been some discussion of creating a Geographic
Information System layer to allow for more detailed analysis of
woodland type under certified management.