I have written before about the scale of England’s forests in relation to those elsewhere in Europe (read more), and in terms of those in public ownership (read more). I found another very useful summary of this in the Forestry Commission’s recent submission to Defra’s Independent Panel on Forestry.
England has proportionately the smallest forest area and the least state forest resource in Europe and yet is one of the most intensively used. Compared to the EU average there are over 66 times more people per hectare (ha) of state forest in England.
EU Average | Scotland | England | |
% Forest cover | 38 | 17 | 9 |
% State forests | 36 | 35 | 18 |
Population per ha of state forest | 3 | 10 | 200 |
Download the paper prepared for the Forestry Panel by the Forestry Commission
Gabriel Hemery