Skip to content

Ambitious tree-planting targets

  • by JW

14,000 trees – 1 for every person living in the Sid Valley.

Trees, biodiversity and climate change.

.

Last week, the town council’s environment committee committed to planting thousands of trees:

The Working Group considered a new ambitious target to plant 14,000 trees (1 for every person that lives in the Sid Valley) 

A group was setup consisting of Ed Dolphin, Diana East and Ian Barlow to look at the feasibility and of 1,000 trees being planted by April 2023. The group would approach farmers, landowners and others looking to find suitable areas to plant the trees. They would look to plant the remaining 13,000 trees within 4-5years.

minutes-0110722-Environment.pdf

Other such ambitious targets are being considered around the world:

How Trees Could Save Karachi, Pakistan from Climate Havoc | Time

Can Planting a Trillion New Trees Save the World? – The New York Times

And consideration is also being made of what trees to plant – particularly in urban areas:

Choosing the right trees for a changing climate

However, a report out this week suggests that trees will be finding it very difficult:

Emerging signals of declining forest resilience under climate change | Nature

So, the problem we’d like trees to solve is one that they are themselves facing:

An analysis of two decades of satellite data shows that forests in arid, tropical and temperate regions are becoming less able to bounce back after events such as drought and logging

Forests are becoming less resilient because of climate change | New Scientist

Besides, planting a load of trees is not necessarily going to ‘save us’:

Planting trees: Climate cure-all? – Down to Earth

Why planting tons of trees isn’t enough to solve climate change | Science News

But maybe a load of trees might help ‘save’ other species:

UK forest is where the bison roam, for the first time in 6,000 years

Bison released into the wild to tackle climate change as UK temperatures soar | The Wildlife Trusts

Perhaps the Sid Valley won’t be seeing bison any time soon – but there is research being undertaken into the area’s ancient woodland, so we need to be looking after the trees we’ve already got:

New map of ancient trees an opportunity for conservation – BBC News

Research is also happening locally – which clearly helps biodiversity:

photo: The Sid Valley © Derek Harper :: Geograph Britain and Ireland

Sid Valley Biodiversity Group column on ancient woodlands | Sidmouth Herald

Allowing and encouraging woodland to regenerate – Vision Group for Sidmouth