City urged to branch out and plant more trees
Woodland cover in Sunderland could increase by the equivalent of 200 football pitches if the Government and councils worked together to boost tree planting, environmental campaigners claim.
Fr ie n d s o f th e E a rth i s calling on the Government to mark National Tree Week by setting ambitious tree growing targets.
The organisation mapped a l l ex i s t i n g a n d p ote nt i a l woodland in England and found that there are 104 hectares of land in the city which could be used for planting trees, without encroaching on high-value arable farmland and protected nature sites.
This would increase the amount of woodland in the area by 8%, not including trees in urban areas such as parks and public gardens.
Only eight per cent of Sunderland’s 13,962 hectares of land are covered in woodland – much of it low grade pasture – and the environmental group the Government should support farmers to grow trees on this sort of land.
Danny Gross, tree campa i g n e r at Fr i e n d s o f th e Earth, said: “We're calling on Forestry Minister Zac Goldsmith to mark National Tree Week by setting an ambitious target to boost tree cover in England.
“Growing more trees would help us fight climate breakdown while enabling more people to access nature in their local area. It’s time ministers offer more funding for climate action at a local level.”
A spokesman for Defra said: “Tree planting remains at the heart of our ambitious environmental programme which is why we have committed to increase tree planting across the UK to 30,000 hectares per year by 2025.”