The NRW Woodland Sub-compartment Database (SCDB) is to be our authoritative data source, giving us information for recording, monitoring, analysis and reporting which supports decision-making on the whole of the NRW woodland estate. Information from the SCDB is used by NRW, wider government, industry and the public for economic, environmental and social forest-related decision-making. Furthermore, it supports forest related national policy development and government initiatives, and helps us meet our national and international forest-related reporting responsibilities.
The Inventory SCDB, will help provide a definitive measure of trends in extent, structure, composition, health, status, use, and management of NRW land holdings. We require this to meet national and international commitments, to report on the sustainable management of forests as well as to help us through the process of business and Forest Design Planning. As well as helping with the above, the SCDB helps us address detailed requests from industry, government, non-government organisations and the public for information on our estate. NRW's growing national and international responsibilities and the requirements for monitoring and reporting on a range of forest statistics have highlighted the technical challenges we face in providing consistent, national level data.