Call to protect and enhance our ‘green lungs’

An expert on woodland management has responded to research predicting 2019 to record one of biggest rises of CO2.

Nick Heasman, Country and Policy Manager at the South Downs National Park Authority and an expert in woodland management to control carbon dioxide levels, said: “It’s concerning that 2019 is expected to record one of the biggest rises in CO2 and this is certainly a warning siren about the vital importance of protecting and enhancing Britain’s forests.

“The South Downs is the most forested National Park in England and Wales and, while only one woodland region of many, it’s crucial that our green lungs are conserved to soak up the large amounts of CO2 cities and towns produce.

“One of the key measures moving forward to help reduce CO2 will be to lock up carbon not just in the trees but in the soil.

“A recent global study concluded that 26 per cent of carbon was locked up in trees, but the rest is held beneath the trees recycling hundreds of years of carbon production. This is why, on the 100th anniversary of the creation of Forestry Commission, we’re working really closely with woodland partners and farmers to not only protect and plant more trees, but to protect the soils.

Nick added: “One of the main threats to controlling excessive CO2 in the atmosphere is the preventionandmanagement of increasingly prevalent tree disease such as Ash Dieback Disease.

This will be a continuing challenge for woodland partners in the years ahead.”

The South Downs National Park has over 38,000 hectares of woodland which covers approximately a quarter of the landscape.

Pictured: South Downs woodland. Inset: Nick Heasman