This report, and accompanying research note and woodland valuation tool (and accompanying guidance), provides an assessment of current knowledge of economic values applied to forestry. It also provides a narrative of forestry’s role in ‘the natural factory’, delivering a wide range of outcomes for businesses and society.

The diverse resources provided by trees and woodlands contribute to the production of a wide array of benefits ranging from timber to wildlife habitats and from carbon storage to water purification. This diversity is further complicated by the fact that, while some of the goods associated with forests are traded in markets and hence have associated prices, others arise outside markets and, while valuable, lack prices. The need to make evidence-based decisions regarding woodlands, including decisions such as how much public funding should be allocated to support the non-market benefits they generate, has necessitated the estimation of the value of those benefits.