Forest Research

Forest Research (FR) is the research agency of the Forestry Commission and Great Britain’s principal organisation for forestry and tree-related research. FR is internationally renowned for the provision of science, research, evidence, data and services in support of sustainable forestry.

The FR Centre for Forest Management applies a wide range of expertise to important issues concerning the resilience and value of Britain's trees, woods and forests. It aims to provide a world class forest economics research base. A key area of FR’s work involves providing evidence to underpin the development of incentive mechanisms that encourage landowners to plant new woodlands.

An exciting project in this area, is developing a Woodland Water Code to provide a quality assurance scheme to underpin incentives for landowners to provide woodland water services related to flood management, agricultural diffuse pollution attenuation and water temperature cooling (to reduce thermal stress of aquatic species).

Along similar lines to the Woodland Carbon Code - a quality assurance scheme underpinning UK woodland creation for carbon sequestration benefits, the initiative aims to foster a new Payments for Ecosystem Services scheme to help achieve water-related policy goals as well as the UK’s climate change mitigation targets.

As a member of the Nature Finance Certification Alliance, Forest Research aims to share findings and collaborate with a range of actors to support the development of high-integrity nature markets in the UK.