National Forest Evidence

Building confidence in our evidence base for a National Forest in Wales.

The National Forest Evidence Review was commissioned by Welsh Government from ERAMMP to provide key evidence of potential benefits and disbenefits of woodland creation, woodland expansion and managing undermanaged woodland, to provide an evidence base to inform the development of a National Forest for Wales.

‘The evidence review will help determine the most appropriate inputs Welsh Government can take to produce beneficial outputs and outcomes for Wales. It will inform the nature of the National Forest in Wales programme in areas including woodland restoration, creation, expansion and management’

- Mark Drakeford, The First Minister for Wales (2018)

National Forest Evidence Review

This review was commissioned by Welsh Government (WG) from the Environment and Rural Affairs Monitoring and Modelling Programme (ERAMMP) to provide key evidence of potential benefits and disbenefits of woodland creation, woodland expansion and managing undermanaged woodland, to provide an evidence base to inform the development of a National Forest for Wales.

This report summarises the Evidence Review providing the highlights for each annex.

Report 32. National Forest Evidence Review

Biodiversity

In this Annex we explore the benefits and disbenefits of woodland creation & management on forest biodiversity in Wales. This Annex first sets out the key factors influencing woodland biodiversity and further sections detailed evidence reviews for specific taxa.

Report 33. National Forest Evidence Review: biodiversity

Managing Undermanaged

In this Annex we explore the scale of managed and undermanaged woodland in Wales to provide a scale of the impact bringing these into management could provide.

Report 34. National Forest Evidence Review: Undermanaged

Futureproofing

In this Annex we consider the impacts of climate change and the increasing threat from pests and diseases on forests in Wales. We explore potential adaptation measures to increase the resilience of forests and ensure the continued delivery of benefits for future generations.

Report 35. National Forest Evidence Review: Future

Climate Change Mitigation

This annex presents an assessment of the potential roles of woodlands in Wales in contributing towards climate change objectives, in particular, the achievement of reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and the possible attainment of net-zero emissions in Wales.

Report 36. National Forest Evidence Review: Climate change

Ecosystem Services

Ecosystem services can be defined as the benefits which flow from healthy ecosystems to society. The concept helps describe these benefits in a way that can influence policy and decision making. This annex considers some key ecosystem services associated with woodlands, including urban forestry.

Report 37. National Forest Evidence Review: ecosystem services

Economics and Natural Capital Accounting

This Annex reviews the evidence base for the contribution of the forestry sector to the Welsh economy, including human capital. We also review forest products and markets and how these are influenced by forest management.

Report 38. National Forest Evidence Review: Economics

Integrated assessment

This Integrated Assessment is intended to highlight the importance of many cross-cutting themes which may impact on the delivery of benefits resulting from woodland creation and management.

Report 39. National Forest Evidence Review: Integrated assessment

Society benefits

Commissioned after the original publication of the initial National Forest Evidence review, this annex provides additional evidence of the wider social and cultural benefits (and disbenefits) potentially available through woodlands, that extend beyond the concept of cultural ecosystem services and benefits addressed in the original Evidence Pack.

Report 54. National Forest Evidence Review: Society benefits