University of Birmingham research will play a role in a major new campaign to protect the UK’s oak trees from threats including pests and diseases.
Launched today, the Action Oak Partnership, made up of charities, environmental organisations and landowners – is seeking to raise £15 million for research and monitoring to help safeguard the 121 million oaks in UK woodlands.
Work will include capturing the first detailed picture of the current health of oaks trees, helping to gain a greater understanding of how to preserve their iconic position in our landscape for generations to come.
Several organisations have already pledged support for Action Oak with the JABBS Foundation, a private family charitable foundation based in Birmingham, donating over £565,000 towards research examining oak tree defences at the University of Birmingham's Institute of Forest Research (BIFoR).
BIFoR aims to provide fundamental science, social science and cultural research of direct relevance to forested landscapes anywhere in the world. The Institute has established a Free-Air Carbon Dioxide Enrichment (FACE) experiment, set in mature, unmanaged, temperate woodland, to further develop our understanding of the dynamic response of forests to environmental change, including climate change.
The Action Oak campaign contributes to the Government’s 25-year Environment Plan, which was launched by the Prime Minister in January 2018.
Visit the BIFoR website