UK forests are well managed

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  <http://www.forestry.gov.uk/statistics> .