Research supports expansion of UK woodlands
SIX new research projects are to explore how to encourage landowners and farmers to plant more trees.
Forests currently account for 13% of the UK’s land surface, and capture approximately 21 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.
The six interdisciplinary studies have each received a share of £3 million funding over the next two years from UK Research and Innovation. Overall, the programme is designed to answer the ‘what, where, how and for whom’ of treescape expansion, by:
■ Investigating new approaches to woodland expansion, including natural colonisation;
■ Developing practical tools for farmers to support the expansion of tree planting on agricultural land;
■ Studying the development of agroforestry, which is the growing of trees alongside crops and livestock farming on the same land, in rural areas and surrounding towns and cities;
■ Establishing a web-based tool that will map the risk of woodland and farmland damage caused by deer;
■ Establishing how to bridge the gap between national objectives of net zero and local tree planting targets;
■ Understanding the potential to diversify the composition of tree species in woodland to increase resilience to climate change, pests and diseases.
Julie Urquhart, Associate Professor of Environmental Social Science at the Countryside and Community Research Institute, University of Gloucestershire, is joint Ambassador of the programme. She said: “The UK is one of the least wooded areas of Europe, with only 13% forest cover.
“These new projects will show how we can effectively support those who manage our treescapes to expand these habitats and improve our environment while at the same locking up carbon to tackle climate change.”