Woodland Statistics - Forest Research
The latest National Statistics on woodland produced by Forest Research were released on 17 June 2021 according to the arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority.
The First Release 'Provisional Woodland Statistics: 2021 Edition' contains provisional statistics for the year to March 2021
The main findings are:
- The area of woodland in the UK at 31 March 2021 is estimated to be 3.23 million hectares. This represents 13% of the total land area in the UK, 10% in England, 15% in Wales, 19% in Scotland and 9% in Northern Ireland.
- Of the total UK woodland area, 0.86 million hectares is owned or managed by Forestry England, Forestry and Land Scotland, Natural Resources Wales or the Forest Service (in Northern Ireland).
- The total certified woodland area in the UK at 31 March 2021 is 1.41 million hectares, including all Forestry England/Forestry and Land Scotland/Welsh Government Woodland Estate/Forest Service woodland. Overall, 44% of the UK woodland area is certified.
- Around thirteen thousand hectares of newly created woodland were reported in the UK in 2020-21.
- Around fourteen thousand hectares of publicly-funded woodland restocking were reported in the UK in 2020-21.
- Woodland Carbon Code projects in the UK that were validated (including those that were also verified) were predicted to sequester a total of 5.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide over their lifetime of up to 100 years. This represents 4.5 million tonnes in Scotland, 981 thousand tonnes in England, 218 thousand tonnes in Wales and 11 thousand tonnes in Northern Ireland.
Download the full Provisional Woodland Statistics: 2021 Edition (PDF)
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Posted On: 18/06/2021