03-15-2020, 06:04 AM
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-51633560
The UK government has pledged to plant millions a year while other countries have schemes running into billions. Last year's UK general election became a contest to look green. The Conservatives' pledge of planting 30 million trees a year, confirmed in the Budget this week, is a big step up on current rates. If the new planting rate is achieved, it would lead to something like 17% of the UK becoming forested, as opposed to 13% now.
Tree planting is a popular idea because forests are not only beautiful but also useful: they support wildlife, help with holding back floodwater and provide timber. And trees absorb carbon dioxide - the main gas heating the planet - so planting more of them is seen by many as a climate change solution.
At the moment, the UK's forests pull in about 10 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year but the hope is to more than double that.
Trees do grow very slowly so it's not enough just to plant them and then walk away. In their early years, saplings are extremely vulnerable to a long list of threats: droughts, storms, pests and diseases. So it's possible that around a quarter of a newly-planted forest will die young.
Only when the survivors make it to an age of 20-30 years do they draw in significant amounts of carbon dioxide. By this stage, the forest will only thrive if some trees are removed or "thinned" to allow more room for others to develop. If the timber from the cleared trees is then used in buildings, the carbon will remain locked up for as long as the structure stands. But if the trees are left unattended and end up dying and rotting, all the carbon that had been stored will then be released.
I think that this is a good step in trying to stop or lower climate change.
Do you think it will be beneficial to plant a lot of trees?
The UK government has pledged to plant millions a year while other countries have schemes running into billions. Last year's UK general election became a contest to look green. The Conservatives' pledge of planting 30 million trees a year, confirmed in the Budget this week, is a big step up on current rates. If the new planting rate is achieved, it would lead to something like 17% of the UK becoming forested, as opposed to 13% now.
Tree planting is a popular idea because forests are not only beautiful but also useful: they support wildlife, help with holding back floodwater and provide timber. And trees absorb carbon dioxide - the main gas heating the planet - so planting more of them is seen by many as a climate change solution.
At the moment, the UK's forests pull in about 10 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year but the hope is to more than double that.
Trees do grow very slowly so it's not enough just to plant them and then walk away. In their early years, saplings are extremely vulnerable to a long list of threats: droughts, storms, pests and diseases. So it's possible that around a quarter of a newly-planted forest will die young.
Only when the survivors make it to an age of 20-30 years do they draw in significant amounts of carbon dioxide. By this stage, the forest will only thrive if some trees are removed or "thinned" to allow more room for others to develop. If the timber from the cleared trees is then used in buildings, the carbon will remain locked up for as long as the structure stands. But if the trees are left unattended and end up dying and rotting, all the carbon that had been stored will then be released.
I think that this is a good step in trying to stop or lower climate change.
Do you think it will be beneficial to plant a lot of trees?