UK to Urgently Plant Trees
Lawrence Power
Barrister & Head of Chambers Specialising in Commercial Law • Available for Legal Consultations & Litigation
The United Kingdom Government Increases New Planting To Replace Felled Trees In Attempt To Meet 2025 Climate Targets
The Climate Change Committee, the UK’s independent adviser on tackling the climate emergency, has said that Britain was at a risk of missing its climate targets as the amount of carbon dioxide captured by UK forests dips by millions of tonnes. The fall in carbon dioxide capture has forced the government to give “further clarity” on its planting targets and strategy to replace felled trees. [1]
In 2009, the amount of carbon dioxide absorbed peaked at just under 20m tonnes. However, the amount of capture has fallen every year since with predictions from 2019 stating that the capture will fall to 15m tonnes a year by 2025. That is a 25% fall.
While Scotland has attempted to combat this dip in absorption by raising its planting rates by 11,000 hectares per year, the rest of the UK have yet to meet that number. It is predicted that, if the UK continues on this track, absorption rates will fall to 10m tonnes a year by 2038.
To combat this threat, the UK has committed to planting 30,000 hectares of new trees annually by 2025. For this target to be achieved, the Climate Change Committee has urged the British government to increase new planting by 4,000 hectares annually. Additionally, the Committee wants all four governments to clarify how they are going to action meeting targets to plant 40,000 hectares by 2030 and 50,000 hectares by 2035.
The Wildlife Trust, a federation of 46 independent wildlife conservation charities covering the whole of the UK, has urged the four governments to be aware of the increased risks of forest fires that could hinder targets being met. Due to increased droughts, as a result of the rise in temperatures, forest fires could consume large areas of forestry and woodland.
Kathryn Brown, director of climate action for the Wildlife Trusts stated: “What is also concerning is that the most recent UK climate change risk assessment projected a doubling of wildfire risk by 2050. This scale of change does not appear to be included in the government’s woodland carbon projections; if it is not there, it should be.” [1]
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Just recently, the UK has been met with temperatures above 30C that have resulted in fire fighters being called out to put out fires in areas such as in the Salisbury Plain.
The governments have also been urged to be aware of the risks of storms felling millions of trees, seen by storm Arwen last November. The felling of trees increases the trees’ exposure to diseases and parasites that could contribute to the cut in UK forests.
Pat Snowdon, head of economics and Woodland Carbon Code with Scottish Forestry, a government agency previously part of the Forestry Commission, predicts an increase in carbon dioxide removals as more young trees grow. Snowdon stated that new woodland created across the UK is managed through a cycle of replanting felled woodlands. The sustainable cycle “results in peaks and troughs in the amount of CO2 that [the woodlands] removes from the atmosphere” because younger trees require a few decades to start absorbing carbon dioxide at a high rate. [1] Our Climate Change team here at Whitestone cannot place enough emphasise on this last fundamental point.
Trees take time we do not have.
© Lawrence Power 2022 Whitestone Chambers