UKWAS UK Woodland Assurance Standard
UK WAS
 
 

The Standard

Small and / or Low Intensity Managed Woods

The following documents summarise the work undertaken:

'Amended Woodland Standard will help Owners' from Forestry & Timber News February 2009

UKWAS Small Woods Review - Outcomes & Lessons Learned (March 2009)

Making the UKWAS standard more accessible for managers of small and / or low intensity managed (SLIM) woodlands

Those charged with drawing up the UK Woodland Assurance Standard (UKWAS) have always been conscious that the certification presents a particular challenge for owners and managers of smaller woodlands. With almost half of the UK forest area and around 80% of the wood produced now certified, it is clear that forest certification is a mainstream activity but a large proportion of small, privately owned woodlands is not certified and this is a major concern for our Steering Group.

Having concluded the first full revision of the UKWAS standard in November 2006 the UKWAS Steering Group decided to see what more might be done for smaller owners. A Small Woods Task Group (SWTG) was established to take forward this work. Their final report, UKWAS for Smaller Woods, concluded that the Steering Group could contribute most effectively to reducing cost and complexity for smaller owners through making changes to the text of the UKWAS standard and providing more comprehensive advice and guidance on certification.

The following document is available:

Small Woods Task Group’s Final Report to the Steering Group - UKWAS for Smaller Woods (November 2007)

The Steering Group accepted the report’s recommendations and following a public consultation exercise the Steering Group approved an amended version of the UKWAS to reflect better the needs of smaller owners.  This amended version of the standard was launched on 26th November 2008.

The principal change is the introduction of a new Small and Low Intensity Managed ('SLIM') woodland category: this incorporates the previous Small Woodland category of 100hectares or under and extends it to include woodlands being managed in a low intensity manner using a definition based on harvested volumes.

It is thought that most UK woodland owners will fall into this expanded category as most woodland ownerships are relatively small.  One benefit is that SLIM woodland managers will not normally need the same level of documentation or management systems as will managers of larger or more intensively managed woodland areas.  Another benefit is that certification schemes will generally require a reduced intensity of audit for SLIM woodlands and so costs will be reduced.

As part of future revisions the Steering Group will look for further opportunities to cater better for small woods, especially for very small woods of 10 hectares or under.

The following documents are available:

UK Woodland Assurance Standard (Second Edition) (Amended version - 2008)
UK Woodland Assurance Standard (Second Edition) List of amendments to the text (2008)
Examples to illustrate application of SLIM woodland criteria
Are you SLIM? (Downloadable leaflet)

The UKWAS Steering Group is mindful that it can only play a limited role in developing solutions for smaller owners; other parties play important roles in the certification process too. The Steering Group therefore commissioned an independent report from ProForest Ltd to recommend additional actions that others might take to support smaller woodland owners. Their report, Maintaining and extending Market Access for UK Timber from Small and/or Low Intensity Managed (SLIM) Woodlands, was presented to the Steering Group in April 2008.

The following document is available:

ProForest Report - Maintaining and extending Market Access for UK Timber from Small and/or Low Intensity Managed (SLIM) Woodlands (April 2008)

The Forestry Commission and the Confederation of Forest Industries (ConFor) took the lead in considering which recommendations might most usefully be taken forward.  Following discussion, the Steering Group concluded that the two most promising areas for action are:

  • Alignment of Forestry Commission / Forest Service and UKWAS management planning requirements
  • Meeting the provisions of the FSC 'Controlled Wood' and PEFC 'Non-controversial Sources' process in the UK.

FSC UK and PEFC UK:

FSC UK and PEFC UK have been asked to consider having the UK designated as of low risk status so as to meet the provisions for the FSC ‘Controlled Wood’ and PEFC ‘Non-controversial Sources’ processes in the UK. If successful the benefit would be that a certified supply chain could contain a proportion of uncertified material from low risk sources so reducing costs for smaller owners.

  • FSC UK has confirmed that it is seeking to obtain a Low Risk status designation for the UK from FSC International and has begun the risk assessment and application process
  • PEFC UK has confirmed that its existing procedures allow for individual companies to include a proportion of uncertified timber from Non-controversial Sources in a certified supply chain

Forestry Commission & NI Forest Service:

FC and NIFS have been asked to consider better alignment of Forestry Commission / NI Forest Service and UKWAS management planning and certification process requirements.

  • FC has confirmed that it wishes to scope what opportunities might exist for appropriate, improved alignment between UKFS implementation and certification; it has suggested this is best taken forward by means of a small working group once the new UKFS is agreed but before the FC’s approval processes are finalised.
  • NIFS has confirmed via the FC that they are also content to proceed in this manner.