The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), has committed to £1 billion investment in green jobs and restoring nature.
England has the lowest tree cover in Europe, so increasing the number of trees is urgently needed. But planting trees is only the beginning, forests need to be built for the future. They need long-term care to grow well and stay healthy. As the climate changes and new pests and diseases appear, forests must be managed in ways that help them adapt. The creation of 14,000 new jobs in forestry is a positive step. Academics from BIFoR suggest these new roles should be around tree care, sustainable forest science, and using new technologies to support forest health.
DEFRA’s aim to “bring trees closer to where people live” is important. It helps people reconnect with nature and builds hope for a greener future. The team at BIFoR hope the new forests will be places where both people and wildlife can thrive, like the Remembering Forests mentioned in the MEMBRA project's policy report.
Planting trees in agricultural areas shows that climate action and food production can work together. As the UK is exposed to a changing climate, trees can help protect crops and animals during heatwaves by providing shade and keeping moisture in the air and soil. This is particularly the case with trees outside dense woodland areas. In towns and cities, trees help cool the environment and improve wellbeing.
Planting trees alone won’t remove enough carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to stop climate change. Yet it can help the UK and DEFRA’s goal to reach the net zero target by 2050, especially if forests are used to offset only the hardest-to-avoid emissions like fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas. BIFoR recognises the need for geological net zero.
At the University of Birmingham, researchers at BIFoR provide evidence to support tree planting and forest restoration. This includes work at the facility known as BIFoR FACE, which studies how forests respond to rising carbon dioxide levels.
