CLIMATE AND CASH COSTS

UK when it was detected here in 2012. Many readers might assume that the threat of ash dieback has subsided, for these days it seldom merits a mention in the media. However, if you live in East Anglia, Kent, Sussex or even south-west Wales – where ash dieback has already killed many thousands of trees – you will be well aware that this disease is a massive issue.

This stealthy epidemic still haunts the land, slowly but inexorably killing the vast majority of the nation’s ash trees. Latest figures show that ash dieback is present in 80% of Wales, 68% of England, 32% of Northern Ireland and 20% of Scotland. Over the next 15–20 years, the mature trees lost to ash dieback will probably amount to well over 120 million across the UK, plus almost incalculable numbers of smaller trees and saplings (a figure of around 1.3 billion has been suggested) which, it seems, are even more susceptible to ash dieback than mature trees. This equates to a loss of at least 95% of ash trees across the UK.

If that was not bad enough, the ash faces a second lethal threat: the emerald ash borer. This killer beetle is working its way around the globe and is almost certain to arrive here soon.

Once it does, only one in 100 of Britain’s ash trees may survive. In comparison, some 60 million mature elms were lost to Dutch elm disease, so ash dieback stands to be at least twice as detrimental to the British landscape.

Britain’s trees soak up carbon that is released into the air when fossil fuels are burned – and this helps keep the brakes on climate change, a process known as carbon sequestration. The Government’s recent plans to address global warming by planting 11 million