Source · Select Committees · Environmental Audit Committee
Recommendation 31
31
Acknowledged
Paragraph: 162
Compliance with the UK Forestry Standard is inadequately monitored beyond woodland establishment phase.
Conclusion
The UK Forestry Standard underpins regulation of the sustainability of the nation’s forests and plays an important role in ensuring that renewed efforts to increase timber supply do not repeat the mistakes of the past. Yet the existence of the standard is not proof that the nation’s forests are being managed sustainably. We are concerned by reports that compliance with this important standard is not being monitored throughout the lifetime of England’s forests and reports that Forestry England lacks labour resource to carry out routine monitoring. Without regular monitoring, Forestry England cannot be sure that forests are being managed sustainably to the UKFS beyond the establishment phase.
Government Response Summary
The government acknowledges concerns about monitoring UKFS compliance beyond initial establishment for non-grant aided operations. The Forestry Commission intends to conduct periodic reviews of compliance and is exploring the future use of Earth Observation and remote sensing technology to assist.
Paragraph Reference:
162
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
Most woodland creation in England is supported by grant funding. The application approval process ensures that woodland creation proposals and the early stages of woodland establishment are compliant with the UKFS. There is less certainty around compliance during forest operations that are not grant aided, such as thinning, in existing woodlands. The Forestry Commission recognises this and has recently completed a survey of a small number of sites where forest operations were either active or recently completed. No serious breaches of the standard were found. The Forestry Commission intend to carry out periodic reviews of UKFS compliance, timed to influence future UKFS review processes, and to inform the direction of future research projects that could help improve compliance or address problems that compliance reviews may discover. Earth Observation and remote sensing are already used to establish the impact of large disturbances, such as Storm Arwen in 2021. This technology has also been used to investigate cases of alleged illegal felling, to monitor the presence of invasive species and deer populations. It is very likely that it will be used in the future in forestry inventory and forecast work, tree health surveillance and compliance with conditions associated with felling licences and grant agreements that are required UKFS compliance.