Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his steps Department is taking to minimise the environmental effect of logging (a) in the UK and (b) abroad.

In most cases a licence is required from the Forestry Commission before a landowner can undertake tree felling. When considering a felling licence application the Forestry Commission in England will take into account the UK Forestry Standard (UKFS), the government’s approach to sustainable forestry. Where clear felling takes place there is, in most cases, a requirement to restock the woodland to maintain our woodland resource.

In addition recipients of licences are reminded of their obligations to carry out their activities in a manner that reflects good forestry practice with appropriate consideration for possible impacts on habitats and species, including checks to ensure compliance with the Habitats Regulations relating to European Protected Species and obligations to protect birds under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

These safeguards help ensure that sustainable forest management in the UK, including the appropriate felling of trees, has a positive environmental effect.

The government is committed to tackling the trade in illegal timber. We implement the EU Timber Regulation (EUTR), which makes it an offence to place illegally logged timber on the EU market for the first time, and the EU Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Regulation, which establishes the FLEGT licensing scheme and aims to improve the supply of legal timber to the EU. The EU FLEGT Regulation is underpinned by Voluntary Partnership Agreements between the EU and timber producing countries. Indonesia became the first partner country to issue FLEGT licences in November 2016.

The Government’s Timber Procurement Policy also requires Government Departments, Executive Agencies and Non-Departmental Public Bodies to procure timber and timber products that are both legal and sustainable.