A valuation of the economic and social contribution of Forestry for People in Scotland

 

Summary

The study is being carried out for Forestry Commission Scotland and aims to capture evidence of all the benefits that communities are getting from activity in Scotland's forests and woodlands.

The study will investigate all ‘forestry for people’ activity through literature reviews, analysis of market data and a large range of detailed surveys. It will take two years to complete and has been broken down into five main areas of research including:

• The benefits of forests and woodlands to communities and individuals
• The contribution of forests to recreation, leisure and culture
• The health and well-being benefits of woodlands to Scottish people;
• How forests and woodlands boost peoples' livelihoods
• How woodlands are contributing to education and learning.

The origins for the study came from the work of the Forestry for People Advisory Panel who were previously charged with giving advice to Forestry Commission Scotland on encouraging best practice on the involvement of people in forestry.

Programme aims

Woodlands in Scotland provide the Scottish economy and Scottish people with many benefits.  But just how valuable are they and in what ways?  Building on the findings of a scoping study, this research programme will assess a range of social and economic benefits resulting from ‘forestry for people’ activities in Scotland.

It will capture value at the national (Scottish) scale but will also provide some local and regional level information to provide insights into how the evaluation themes overlap and interact.  Economic evaluation will be important but where this is not appropriate non-economic quantitative and qualitative assessments will be used.

Research objectives

The assessment will be conducting according to five key themes:

• Livelihoods
• Learning and education
• Health and well-being
• Recreation, amenity and culture
• Community capacity.

Interim findings

After nine months of research activity, an Interim Report (December 2006) has been written to report progress towards delivering the agreed outputs of the project.  The report contains data from many sources, based on both new and previous research; it also outlines further work needed to complete the project by March 2008.

The interim findings, for the most part, reinforce the growing recognition of forestry for recreation, tourism, health, visual amenity, learning and community woodland.

Headline figures show that forestry makes a significant contribution to Scotland’s economy on a number of fronts.  While these figures require a degree of refinement, they illustrate a first estimated valuation of that contribution and should be used with caution.

• Forestry supports over 40,000 full time equivalent jobs, almost half of which are due to tourism and recreation visits.
• Gross Value Added (GVA) of forest-related tourism and recreation is around £250 million.
• GVA of timber production and processing (Scottish timber only) is estimated at £500million.
• GVA of Scottish game sector attributable to woodland is £100 million.
• 13% of the Scottish population and 23% of woodland visitors gathered Non Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) from woodlands in the last 12 months.
• Economic value of health benefits of forestry is worth £13 million to £18 million per annum.
• Non-market value of visits to forests is at least £40 million per annum.
• Economic value of woodland views from homes is £24 million per annum.
• Economic value of views of urban fringe broadleaved woodland on journeys is £15 million per annum.

 Interim Report, December 2006 ^(PDF-765K)

Funders and partners

The programme is funded by Forestry Commission Corporate Forestry Support and  Forestry Commission Scotland.

Forestry Commission policy

Forestry for people has become a major objective for forestry in Scotland with forestry policy and activities increasingly incorporating the provision of benefits to people in terms of their health and well-being, their learning and education, their ability to sustain a living and their ability to contribute to the viability and vibrancy of their local community.  This is reflected in local and regional forestry plans and activities as well as the national Scottish Forestry Strategy which, amongst other objectives, seeks to:

• Create a diverse forest resource of high quality that will contribute to the economic needs of Scotland throughout the 21st century and beyond
• Create opportunities for more people to enjoy trees, woods and forests in Scotland
• Help communities benefit from woods and forests.

Programme reports

 Interim Report, December 2006 ^(PDF-765K)

Programme plan ^(PDF-221K)

Description of work ^(PDF-100K)

Scoping study ^(PDF-481K)

Status

The evaluation started in April 2006 and will be complete at the end of March 2008.

Contact

David Edwards
Forest Research
Alice Holt Lodge
Farnham
Surrey GU10 4LH

Tel: +44(0)1420 22255
Fax: +44(0)1420 23653
Email: david.edwards@forestry.gsi.gov.uk