Responding to UKFS Consultation

The UK Forestry Standard (UKFS) is reviewed every five years. It is the reference standard for sustainable forest management across the UK, and applies to all woodland, regardless of who owns or manages it.

The standard ensures that international agreements and conventions on areas such as sustainable forest management, climate change, biodiversity and the protection of water resources are applied in the UK.

While welcoming many of the technical changes the RFS has:

• Asked for more clarity on timescales to ensure that forest managers are able to adapt from current forest management practices. Some practices which are currently compliant with the UKFS may become non compliant;
• Expressed concerns than productive forestry – forestry for timber – may be disadvantaged by the proposal to reduce the maximum to 65% single species within all forest management units;
• Suggested additional search functions to make the document more easily navigable; and
• Requested the development of a UKFS app that can be used in the field

Read our full response here.