The Forestry Commission, with its agency Forest Enterprise, represents the UK’s largest single controller of public land. At the same time, community forests are being developed in and around towns and cities, in recognition of the benefits of such initiatives in building social capacity, as well as to provide much needed naturalistic public space. With the ever-increasing emphasis on the relationship between healthy lifestyles, access to natural space and expenditure on curative medicine, the opportunity to develop the use of forests and woodlands as healthy living centres should be embraced. Forest Research, the research agency of the Forestry Commission, organised the expert consultations with the aim of bringing together a diverse range of researchers, policymakers and practitioners interested in trees, woodlands and their impacts on public health. The consultations provided a forum for a variety of organisations to: discuss and examine the relationships between the environment, health, culture and society; develop communication networks of environmental and health professionals, administrators and researchers; build mutual understanding among these target groups; explore the need to establish medium- to long-term partnerships to develop joint research and pilot projects.

Type of Case
Printed publication (book, sourcebook, journal article…)

Publisher
Forestry Commission, Edinburgh

Region
Europe

Biome
Boreal, Temperate

Forest Type
All forest types (natural and planted)

Primary Designated Function
Multiple use