If tree planting is the answer, what is the question?
In the last few months, tree planting has burst onto the environmental and political agenda, with pledges to plant thousands of new trees in the UK to help lock up carbon and tackle climate change. Indeed, people in their thousands took part in tree planting days up and down the country as part of National Tree week in late November. Reforestation is vital for recovering much of the land cleared due to development.
However, the effort to restore our woodlands and hedges needs to be balanced with the needs of biodiversity. Restoring and managing other habitats are just as important and, in some cases, the last line of defence for rare wildlife. Take chalk grassland for example. With over 50% of it located in the UK, it is Europe’s most threatened habitat. The species within it, such as the Chalkhill Blue butterfly, are so uniquely suited to this one habitat that without conserving these, the species would likely go extinct. Grasslands also lock up carbon below the ground in the soil and have the highest combined carbon stock of any UK habitat type. The variety of habitats on the Commons means that often scrub and trees are coppiced or cleared to restore and improve biodiversity. Whilst a positive step in addressing climate change and the environmental wrongs of the past, tree planting areas need to be carefully chosen to avoid harming biodiversity.
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