Briefing Paper for the House of Lords debate on ... - VisitWoods.org.uk

Appendix: Biodiversity Action Plan targets, <strong>the</strong>ir delivery and newplanting in <strong>the</strong> UKUK BAP target Delivery Woodland Trust deliveryMaintain <strong>the</strong> current extent and At present <strong>the</strong> statutory agencies The Trust established a ‘Woodsdistribution <strong>of</strong> ancient seminaturalincluding <strong>the</strong> Forestry Commission Under Threat’ team in 2001. Fromwoodland (ASNW), whichqualifies as native woodland in <strong>the</strong>UK, (no change in <strong>the</strong> existing area<strong>of</strong> 403,000ha).(FC) have no system in place tomonitor loss.2001-2010, at least 207ha <strong>of</strong>ancient woodland were lost. Atleast 400ha <strong>of</strong> ASNW across 282woods are currently threatened bydevelopment.Restore 26,880ha <strong>of</strong> non-nativeplantations on ancient woodlandsites (PAWS) to native woodland in<strong>the</strong> UK by 2010 and 50,300ha by2015.Expand <strong>the</strong> current nativewoodland resource in <strong>the</strong> UK by83,555ha (2005-2010) and by134,559ha (2005-2015). This targetincludes creation <strong>of</strong> new nativewoodland through naturalregeneration and planting, as wellas conversion <strong>of</strong> non-nativeplantations to native woodlandwhere <strong>the</strong>y are not situated onancient woodland sites.FC is making progress on its ownestate. However <strong>the</strong>re aredifficulties in regard to reportingon progress by <strong>the</strong> private sectoras <strong>the</strong> FC cannot collate grant orfelling license in<strong>for</strong>mation. WhenFC last reported in 2008, 5,442hahad been restored in England,Scotland and Nor<strong>the</strong>rn Ireland andrestoration <strong>of</strong> 4,233ha wasunderway in Wales.The latest figures on <strong>the</strong>Biodiversity Action ReportingSystem (BARS) are <strong>for</strong> 2005-2008and state that 51,616ha had beendelivered. At country level itprovides a more disturbing picture(2005-10 targets in brackets):England: 6,798ha (26,000ha)N Ireland: 286ha (400ha)Scotland: 42,919ha (53,955ha)Wales: 1,613ha (3,200ha)Forestry Commission’s annualForestry Statistics only report newplanting <strong>of</strong> conifer andbroadleaved not native woodland(www.<strong>for</strong>estry.gov.uk/statistics).Annual planting rates are inserious decline (see chart below).The total area <strong>of</strong> new plantingbetween 2005-2010 – includingnon-native plantations – is38,200ha.From 2005-2010, <strong>the</strong> Trust hasbrought 9,631ha <strong>of</strong> PAWS into aprocess <strong>of</strong> restoration, both on ourown estate and as a direct result <strong>of</strong>outreach work.In <strong>the</strong> period 2005-2010 <strong>the</strong> Trustcreated 3,979ha <strong>of</strong> new nativewoodland on our own land and asa direct result <strong>of</strong> outreach work.3