Planting trees for optimum carbon sequestration and biodiversity protection
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More woodland makes very good sense:
Plant lots of trees to tackle climate change
Natural capital: our natural resources
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As in this example just over the hill:
Woodbury Common, Devon – 24 July 2018 | Flickr
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But we have to be careful to plant the right trees in the right place:
Planting trees: where, what and why?
Small-scale, mixed woodland for Devon
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The RSPB have commissioned a report looking at forestry and climate change:
Woodlands for climate and nature:
A review of woodland planting and management approaches in the UK for climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation
There is growing impetus to increase tree planting targets in response to climate change.
As of 27 June 2019, the UK is committed to a target to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 100% (compared to 1990 levels) by 2050, also known as a net zero target (Priestly, 2019).
The forestry sector is seen as having an essential role to play in meeting this target (CCC, 2019).
Actions taken in the UK have far-reaching global consequences and there is an increasing need to ensure that woodland expansion is delivered in a way that delivers for biodiversity, the climate and other objectives. As stated by Burton et al. (2018): “Research needs to make clear the effect of woodland expansion in different contexts, in order to provide robust, context-specific evidence. This is especially pertinent given the urgency of initiatives concerned with carbon sequestration and biodiversity protection, and the risk of rapid, poorly- informed actions leading to suboptimal or counterproductive outcomes.”
The current report was commissioned by the RSPB to help inform its response to this need.