Our monthly policy and research blog updates you on the latest work at the Institute and how you can get involved.
Institute news
Welcome to the first Policy Roundup of 2025 with a newish year, two months in, from the Institute’s Technical Policy Manager, Caroline Harrison MICFor, who is now four months into the role. We also have some new members of staff to welcome:
Gail Martin MCIWM CRWM – Professional Practice Manager
Gail has vast experience of the membership sector, is a Chartered Waste & Resource Manager and has a passion for the environment. Gail will support candidates to attain professional membership with a focus on Technical, Professional and Fellow grades.
Joanna Stemp – Events Officer
Joanna is responsible for coordinating and delivering Institute national events, regional events and bespoke partnership events. She has previous experience managing in-person and online events for the scientific publishing sector, as well as experience managing a range of projects.
Vanessa Wilhelm – Business Development Manager
Vanessa is a seasoned professional with extensive experience in stakeholder engagement and project management, bringing a unique international perspective having lived in Germany, Hong Kong, and now Scotland. Before joining the Institute, Vanessa led the evaluation of transport pilot projects and developed rural transport strategies at Aberdeenshire Council.
We are very much looking forward to a year packed with events and there are already some important consultations that we will be responding to and for which we are seeking members views.
UKFS E-learning
Our UKFS e-learning programme covers all nine sections of the UK Forestry Standard in a more accessible and immersive format that you can work through at your own pace. Funded by Defra’s Trees Call to Action Fund, the programme has been endorsed by the Forestry Commission, Forest Research, Natural Resources Wales, Scottish Forestry and the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA). UKFS e-learning leads to certification from Lantra upon completion. Find out more and sign up today.
Forestry Facing the Future webinar series
We concluded our webinar series in partnership with the Forestry Commission around the paper A horizon scan of issues affecting UK forest management within 50 years in February. The final webinar, Forests on the Edge of Collapse, was chaired by Richard Stanford, CEO of the Forestry Commission and included speakers from Forest Research and the University of Cambridge, who gave some hope for the future as well as highlighting the warning signs for our sector. Throughout the series the topics have been explored to delve more deeply into the priorities highlighted in the original paper and to find solutions to the challenges identified. You can still purchase access to the webinars either on an individual basis or for the whole series on the Members Area.
Scottish Forestry Resilience Knowledge Exchange webinar series
Scottish Forestry addressed resilience issues in our partnership webinar series, aiming to increase industry discussions and awareness in response to our changing climate. The series finished on 4 March with presentations from Scottish Forestry’s tree health team following previous discussions on wildfire resilience, bark beetles, species diversity and drought. All webinars are available to view on the Scottish Forestry website
#MembersHour
- 23 January – Towards Ancient Woodland Protection
- 6 February – Grow Trees, Use Wood, For Our Future
- 20 February – Using AI & LLMs in Arboriculture & Forestry
All recordings are available to members in the library area of Members Area.
#TreeSurgery
These events are informal monthly drop-in sessions and are a great opportunity for all members working in forestry, environment, arboriculture and urban forestry to get together to talk all things trees. #TreeSurgery does not have a formal agenda and has been designed for informal networking and knowledge exchange in a relaxed forum.
Early Career Professionals Conference 2025
Early career professionals are the future of the sector, and it is an exciting time to be at the start of a career in forestry and arboriculture; how can you make a difference? The world is rapidly changing, and the unprecedented twin threats of climate and biodiversity crises are bringing both challenges and opportunities for the tree sector.
Taking place on 18 March, our Early Career Professionals Conference will examine how you can help the sector build resilience to change through good practice and professional competence. The conference will close with a Q&A session featuring experienced speakers from across the sector providing advice and guidance on achieving your career goals.
Bookings close at 15:00 on 17 March.
View upcoming events
Consultations & political advocacy
Responding to public consultations is an important way to influence policy. We consult with members as much as possible and often work in partnership with other organisations to strengthen our messages. We also produce papers on specific topics where it is important to publish our position.
We continue to build upon the strong relationship the Institute has with Defra and its arm’s length bodies, NRW and Scottish Forestry to bring together government, industry, landowners and communities working together towards shared goals.
Timber Industrial Strategy – Wales
Welsh Government
Deadline: 16 April 2025
This consultation sets out proposals for Wales’s first Timber Industrial Strategy. We will be submitting a response. Please respond individually online and send your comments to our Technical Policy Manager, Caroline Harrison MICFor.
Land Use Framework
Defra
Deadline: 25 April 2025
This consultation presents the government’s assessment of the scale of land use change required to meet Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP) and Climate Change Act targets, and how this will be achieved alongside the land needed for forestry, food, housing and energy. We will be submitting a response. Please respond individually online and send your comments to Caroline Harrison MICFor.
We are also encouraging members to respond to the following consultations:
Timber Procurement Policy (TPP)
The forest certification schemes Grown in Britain (GiB), Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), and the Programme for Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) are being reviewed by Defra to see if they meet the criteria under Category A evidence of the UK Timber Procurement Policy (TPP). Stakeholders are invited to submit evidence of certification schemes’ compliance with the TPP. Comments can be submitted using the online survey until 30 March 2025.
Local Nature Recovery Strategies
There are 48 Local Nature Recovery Strategies (LNRS) rolling out across England. Each LNRS will agree local priorities for nature recovery and suggest the best actions in the best locations. Preparation of LNRS is underway in all areas, and the first one has been published in the West of England. Read more on the Defra Farming blog. You can also find a map on GOV.UK that shows who is leading the preparation of the LNRS in your area and how to contact them. The Institute, Confor and the Royal Forestry Society are submitting a joint technical paper for all LNRS to use to inform their priorities for trees and woodlands.
Developments
Government publishes findings from Environmental Improvement Plan rapid review
Steve Reed OBE, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, has published an interim statement on the strategic findings from the rapid review of the Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP) that was launched in July 2024. The statement also provides an update on future plans for revising the EIP.
Institute signs joint letter to the Prime Minister & Chancellor on the value of nature
We signed a joint letter, supported by 11 professional bodies, to the Prime Minister and Chancellor voices deep concerns about increasing tension between growth and nature. The letter also highlights the economic benefits of nature-based solutions and calls for government action, including embedding natural capital accounting into policy, engaging with environmental experts, supporting nature-positive development and increasing investment in nature recovery. You can read the letter here.
Representation
Our representatives sit on groups, panels, and committees across the sector, actively participating, feeding back developments, and advising us on actions to take. The role of an Institute Representative is a crucial touch point between Institute staff, Council, and members. Here are some updates from our representatives:
Environmental Policy Forum
Our Technical Policy Manager, Caroline Harrison MICFor, represents the Institute on the Environmental Policy Forum. The forum is an invitation-only membership group established to provide the opportunity for collaboration, learning, dialogue and debate amongst professionals across the environmental disciplines. The group penned a joint letter to the Prime Minister and Chancellor, as above.
Forest Plastics Working Group
Caroline Harrison MICFor represents the Institute on the Forest Plastics Working Group. An event is being planned to extend the visibility of the group outside of the forestry sector.
UKWAS Steering Group
Elaine Dick MICFor, Amy Mitchell MICFor and Stuart Wilkie FICFor represent the Institute on the UKWAS Steering Group. Ben Gunnenberg MICFor has been appointed as the new UKWAS Chair.
PEFC has now approved UKWAS 5 and it went ‘live’ as the PEFC certification standard in the UK from 1 December 2024. FSC has still to approve the revised text so UKWAS 4 remains the current FSC standard. For the time being those certificate holders that are dual certified to FSC and PEFC will be audited to two different standards. This situation is not as complex as it might at first seem and dual certificate holders are advised to work to UKWAS 5 for both PEFC and FSC. All PEFC certificate holders will be required to undergo an external audit to UKWAS 5 within 12 months of the standard being approved, in effect by 30 November 2025.
The indication is that UKWAS 5 is unlikely to be approved before June 2026. FSC UK is working hard to help, as they have done all throughout the process.
There now seems to be a consensus that the issue of pheasant pens in ASNW and PAWS as written in the current version of UKWAS 5 is unworkable on many estates and that a revision of the text is required, if this is not to result in a loss of certified area and damage to the credibility of forest certification. There have been some positive discussions and all that can be said for the moment is that the prospect for a reasonable compromise is good. However, it is too early to suggest what the shape of the revised requirement might look like. Advice to those affected is to do nothing, keep using current pens and await the outcome of the revision. The aim is to have revised text in place before the current transition period expires.
UK Treescapes
Caroline Harrison MICFor attended an event that presented some results of the UK Treescape Understanding Memory of UK Treescapes for Better Resilience and Adaptation (MEMBRA) and facilitated some robust discussions on future forest-related policy. Part of the day involved a performance from Walking Forest and a discussion about the rights of trees including a description of the Ring of Truth performance and, Running with Trees, a performance bringing together science, biology and climate change.
Special Interest & Steering Groups
The first Special Interest Group meetings of 2025 will be held in March, including a new Special Interest Group on Green Finance.
Sector news, guidance & reports
- Forest Research winter newsletter – read
- Windblow contingency plan stood down after Storm Eowyn – read
- Radical Housing Conference Scotland recordings – watch
- Woodknowledge Wales newsletter – read
- Research published on natural tree colonisation of organo-mineral soils and net carbon capture benefits – read
- FC update on new policies to boost farmers’ profits, timber campaign, climate resilience study and research on Ips typographus and Sitka spruce – read
- Major study of 10,000 people found that 90% say biodiverse woods have a positive impact on their wellbeing – read
- Exhibition on soils in London – read
- Vacancies at FSC – read
- 7th Carbon Budget launched advising doubling woodland creation to 37k/ha/yr by 2030, such planting would increase UK forest cover from 13% today to over 16% by 2050 – read
- Timber in Construction Roadmap launched focusing on increasing productive forestry and on promoting the use of homegrown wood-based construction products – read
- Woodland Carbon Code newsletter – read
- Beaver wild release a milestone for nature recovery in England – read
