[ad_1]
The huge value of trees standing alone and in small groups in the UK has been revealed in a new report, which found they provide billions of pounds of benefits to people every year. Trees capture climate-warming CO2Reducing toxic air pollution and reducing flood risks by slowing stormwater runoff.
There are millions of such trees across the country, covering a combined 750,000 hectares and accounting for 20% of all trees in the country. The value of woodland has already been estimated but the report is the first to calculate the value of trees in gardens, parks, fields and streets across the UK.
It found that the value of services from non-woodland trees ranged from £1.4bn to £3.8bn per year, depending on the method used. The researchers said the estimates were conservative, as many of the benefits were difficult to quantify, such as boosting wildlife and people’s mental health.
A large individual tree, with a canopy diameter of 30 meters, provides hundreds of pounds of profit a year, the report found. It also separately estimated the average replacement cost of a tree at £2,500, although the largest trees can be worth more than £100,000. In total, the report values non-woodland trees at £429bn. The researchers said their work could be used by local authorities to justify the cost of tree protection and planting at a time when budgets are under tight pressure.
Kieron Doike, head of Forest Research’s Urban Forest Research Group and lead author of the report, said on a recent walk he was struck by the importance of single and small groups of trees. “When I was walking home, I would walk around my town, on the highway, by lonely trees in people’s gardens, at some intersections,” he said. “It represents to me the diversity and coverage of trees that we have in our daily lives, but not in forests.”
“The numbers are significant,” Doick said. “These trees are at least as valuable in terms of providing benefits to people as woodland trees and we are still not taking into account all the benefits.
“This research will help decision makers justify spending on resource management, research and conservation of our non-woodland trees in the same way they do our woodland trees.”
The report found that the biggest economic benefit from non-woodland trees is CO removal and storage2, which accounts for half to two-thirds of the gain depending on the method used. Reducing air pollution was also significant, contributing one-fifth to one-third of the benefits. Other small but important benefits were cooling the local temperature on hot days and screening people from noise pollution. Single urban and rural trees and groups of trees less than 0.5 ha in area were included in the analysis.
While previous research estimated an average tree canopy cover of 16% across 283 towns and cities in England, another study recommended this should rise to at least 20%. A citizen science project to map urban canopy cover in the UK is being run by Forest Research and partners. Doick said the condition of urban trees varies considerably: “In some cities, their population will have a very high percentage classified as very good or excellent health. In other places, it will be low.”
The Government announced this week that 57 local authorities across England have received almost £10m through the Woodland Creation Accelerator Fund to kickstart tree planting activity. Forestry Minister Trudy Harrison said: “Our trees, forests and woodlands are the country’s lungs and serve as a powerful weapon in the fight against climate change. At the local level, trees are the lifeblood of communities, essential to support well-being.”
Adam Cormack at the Woodland Trust said: “This important new research shows the extraordinary financial value of trees on our streets, in our parks and in our countryside. [which] Should qualify for the highest level of protection. However, we know this is not the case. For example, eastern England has lost 50% of its large trees in the last 150 years.
Cormack said the “incalculable cultural value” of the trees was not covered by the research. “This is especially true for our oldest and most important trees, which do not have the automatic legal protections that most of our wildlife and older buildings have. These amazing trees are our heritage from history, and we should treat them like national treasures.
Mike Childs, head of policy at Friends of the Earth, said: “Estimating the economic value of trees is fraught with difficulties and inevitably fails to capture all the benefits. But the government should not need this kind of exercise to realize that we need more trees in our towns, cities and countryside.
“The government’s suggestion to increase tree cover in England from 14.5% to 17.5% by 2050 is completely inadequate,” Childs said. “Instead, it should aim to double the tree cover and ensure that every street and neighborhood receives the undoubted benefits of having trees on their doorstep.”
In 2018 the benefits of the UK’s 3m hectares of woodlands were estimated at £4.9bn per year, although much less value was used for carbon sequestration. A 2021 report found that £185m a year is saved in mental-health costs by people walking in UK forests.
[ad_2]
Source link
