UK NEA Economic Analysis Report Valuation of services from Woodlands: Valatin & Starling 2010 1 8- Valuation of ecosystem services provided by UK woodlands

hazard, noise, and air quality regulation), and cultural (e.g. cultural heritage, amenity, health, recreation and tourism) services. Ecosystem service provision is sensitive to land management objectives. ii. Two provisioning (wood production and deer) and one regulating (carbon sequestration) are the focus of the NEA woodland habitat valuation exercise. (Several others are covered in other chapters). iii. The total quantity of wood produced in the UK has risen substantially over the past three decades, more than tripling since the mid 1970s to over 8 million green tonnes currently as coniferous woodlands planted in the 20th century have matured. Mean standing sales prices for softwood fell in real terms by about two-thirds from around £30/m3 overbark (£35 per green tonne) in 1971/2 to about £10/m3 ob (£12 per green tonne) in 2009/10 at 2010/11 prices. This appears to follow a longer term downward trend. iv. UK hardwood production has halved since 1976, reflecting factors including a shift in forest management objectives away from timber production towards provision of multiple ecosystem services. The limited evidence that exists suggests mean prices for UK hardwood probably fell by at least a third in real terms between 1989 and 2007/8. A drop in hardwood prices over the past two decades fits with reports of falling import prices for hardwood logs and a decline in demand by upstream sectors. The past decade was characterised by a collapse in purchases of UK-grown hardwood by UK sawmills and by pulp and paper mills, which together fell from over 400,000 green tonnes in 1999 to under 70,000 green tonnes in 2008