Plan to boost UK woodland to tackle climate change

[Aurora]

BBC News - 25/11/09

Millions of trees should be planted to cover an extra 4% of the UK in woodland in order to tackle climate change, the Forestry Commission has recommended.

It said planting 23,000 hectares a year would make a "significant" contribution to meeting lower emissions targets.

Article continues ...

[Quintus]

Hi, I posted this last night (deleted the thread now).

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Good news, though the video report seems a bit vague on details.

Point of information: if the average football pitch = 1.8 acres, then 30,000 pitches would equal 54,000 acres. Multiplied by 40 years equals 2.16m acres. If I recall correctly the UK is c.60m acres.

More forests planned to tackle climate change

"As things stand some 12% of the UK is woodland, the report argues that needs to rise to 16% in coming decades, but without taking valuable agricultural land out of production ... using old mining sites and rubbish dumps and every available plot of land. The government say it is determined to plant an area equivalent to 30,000 football pitches every year for the next 40 years."

Video report
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8377744.stm

And here . . .

Plan to boost UK woodland to tackle climate change

Professor Sir David Read, chairman of a panel of scientists who carried out the research, said: "By increasing our tree cover we can lock up carbon directly.

"By using more wood for fuel and construction materials we can make savings by using less gas, oil and coal, and by substituting sustainably produced timber for less climate-friendly materials."

"The UK is one of the least-wooded countries in Europe".

http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8377827.stm

[2 As and a B]

Growing trees is a win-win solution. I'm surprised it has taken so long for it to be suggested by a body that can actually do it. Just so long as there is a progressive move to deciduous woodland and it is not just an exercise in covering the country in pine.

[snow hope]

Hmmm, I think I was proposing exactly this action on another thread....... good to see it is being taken seriously, I am 100% behind it.

I must join some tree group - any suggestions?

[Quintus]

Hmmm, I think I was proposing exactly this action on another thread....... good to see it is being taken seriously, I am 100% behind it.

I must join some tree group - any suggestions?

There's the excellent Woodland Trust, of course.
http://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/en/take ... olved.aspx

[UndercoverElephant]

Sounds good to me. More woods = More mushrooms.

[Janco2]

Couldn't agree more, we need many more native trees in the UK.

Believe I'm right in thinking that woodland is not covered by "special payments" land owners get just for owning land used for agricultural purposes.
I would imagine few land owners will plant trees and lose their special payments.

[johnathome]

Believe I'm right in thinking that woodland is not covered by "special payments"

Are you talking about the CAP? It's due to be reassessed in 2012 i think, maybe they'll make 'special payments' if you plant trees then.

[Ludwig]

I heard it claimed somwhere (sorry, can't remember where) that planting trees at higher latitudes actually increases global warming because the effect of their trapping heat outweighs the benefit of CO2 capture. Not sure how true that is.

[RenewableCandy]

Hmmm, I think I was proposing exactly this action on another thread....... good to see it is being taken seriously, I am 100% behind it.

I must join some tree group - any suggestions?

You see, they're on to you. Pinching your ideas..well I suppose it's better than being persecuted

Meanwhile I've been chucking too-small-to-eat apples and acorns into various promising places because I don't own any land.

[Andy Hunt]

Just so long as there is a progressive move to deciduous woodland and it is not just an exercise in covering the country in pine.

Would (wood?) it not be a good idea to have some pine plantations for manufacture of biochar in large quantities?