The government has been consulting on its England Tree Strategy. Here are the comments TRESA has submitted to DEFRA:
1. The current strategy lacks any hard target for tree planting across England. It merely repeats the ambition to increase England’s tree cover from 10% to a mere 12% by 2060. The average tree cover in the EU is currently38%.
The current aspiration of 12% tree cover was adopted in 2013, before the Paris Climate Accord, before the government adopted a net-zero emissions target, and before it declared a climate emergency. It is therefore both out of date and hopelessly inadequate.
We say that a clear target must be set. We want to see a commitment to double England’s tree cover by 2040.
2. The government has devolved responsibility for tree planting to local authorities, yet has not put in place adequate funding. In 2018-19, only £20.5 million was spent on woodland grants in England, compared to over £50 million in Scotland. Also, there are no agroforestry grants available in England.
To encourage landowners to grow trees and woodlands, the England Tree Strategy should guarantee that the upcoming Environmental Land Management scheme (ELMs) will provide much more funding for trees and woodlands, reflecting the many public benefits they provide. To be effective, this funding must compensate landowners and land managers for both the direct costs of creating and maintaining woodlands, as well as the opportunity costs of foregoing revenue from alternative land uses, including farming. Moreover, ELMs will not start until 2024, with full implementation in 2027.
We say that the government must provide adequate funding during this parliament for woodland creation, street trees and agroforestry.
This will also help re-start the economy by creating desperately needed new jobs in forestry, tourism and ecosystem restoration.
3. Doubling tree cover is achievable but will require everyone to collaborate and pull out all the stops. We don’t think there is a single ”silver bullet” approach. For example:
- We need much more native broadleaved woodland, but we also need more sustainable commercial forestry to replace some of the vast amounts of wood we import (some of which is driving deforestation in other countries).
- We want to see the Government do much more to financially support natural regeneration (the self-seeding of trees – current grants are geared towards just supporting tree-planting) as well as agroforestry (where trees are integrated into farmed landscapes, from restored orchards to shelter belts and wider hedgerows).
We say that the strategy should adopt a diverse approach to increasing tree cover, not a one-size-fits-all strategy.