§ Mr. Thompsonasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will publish, from the international sources available to him, the proportion of the land surface covered by trees in each EEC member State and each Scandinavian country.
§ Mr. Strang:The most recent directly comparable statistics are those in the study"Forest Resources in the European Region ", published in 1976 by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the 828W United Nations. The figures, which relate to land use in 1970, are reproduced below:
Forests and other wooded land as a percentage of total land European Economic Community Belgium 20 Denmark 12 France 25 German Federal Republic 30 Ireland 4 Italy 27 Luxembourg 32 Netherlands 10 United Kingdom 8 Scandinavian Countries Finland 74 Norway 29 Sweden 64
§ Mr. Thompsonasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) what proportion of England's land surface is covered by trees; and what area this represents;
(2) how many acres of broadleaved woodland there are in England; and what proportion of the total land surface area this represents.
§ Mr. Strang:It is estimated that an area of approximately 2,224,000 acres, representing 6.9 per cent. of the total land area, is woodland; 1,201,000 acres, representing 3.7 per cent. of the total land area, contain broadleaved trees.