There has been an ongoing increase in the number of the "natural burial grounds" in the U.K. since 1993, where burial and nature reserve are both regarded as main objectives. The movement towards this type of burial has multiple origins, which includes each independent effort by citizens and a naturalist social worker for Do-It-Yourself burials, and by a cemetery officer for an eco-friendlier and more cost-effective burial style. These efforts were integrated into a single movement by a group of psychotherapists as part of its search for an un-institutional style of death, under the consideration for environmental issues. The rapid progress of the movement was possible partly because of the absence of the general laws that regulate the burial activities by private parties. The government has started to consider the potential of a nationwide standard for burials and cemeteries, which may legalize the natural burial grounds and improve the currently unregulated management of them in future. In such governmental efforts the accumulation of expertise and the codes of practice developed by the private institutions have been playing considerable roles. To establish sustainable management strategies to maintain the sites healthy as both burial grounds and woodland is considered to be the case in point.
