All of us are familiar with the idea of planting trees to help combat climate change. Trees absorb carbon dioxide, removing and storing carbon while releasing oxygen back into the air. They also improve our physical and mental wellbeing, as you can hear in our Carbon Copy Podcast episode, Returning to Our Trees. We don’t need to invent alternative technologies to trees; we need to be inventive in how we grow millions of trees in the UK.
If you want to read or listen to a couple of inspiring examples about tree planting in the UK, look below. If you are already involved in a similar project, jump here if you want to do something bigger.
Inspiration read
Planting trees in Tiny Forests
Tiny Forests
Since 2020, Earthwatch has worked with partners and different communities across the UK to plant over 250 Tiny Forests – bringing the benefits of a forest right into the heart of our cities and urban spaces. Creating these dense, thriving forests uses the Miyawaki method of planting based on ‘potential natural vegetation’ (PNV), forest structure and an understanding of how things could grow naturally if humans didn’t interfere. A huge diversity of native species and different plant structures are planted very closely together, mimicking what would happen in nature if a forest was regenerating.
A solution for urban tree planting
A Tiny Forest typically consists of 600 trees planted densely in a tennis-court size plot. Because they are so small, they are often planted in urban locations where space is tight and nature is most needed. Research studies indicate that it can be cheaper to grow a Tiny Forest than more conventional spread-out urban tree planting; more collective effort is needed upfront in planting the forest but tree survival rates are also higher and the self-sustaining forest requires very little maintenance. Tiny Forests become less tiny as more communities are replicating them across Britain and Earthwatch’s goal is to have 500 forests planted before 2030.
A tiny forest with big biodiversity
Tiny Forests grow up to 10 times faster, are 30 times denser and support up to 100 times more biodiversity than conventional ways of planting trees. Involving the local community is integral to this different approach – not because more help is needed at the start to prepare the soil and plant so many trees, but because more people can have an experience and powerful connection with nature; and that link is a key measure of its success. Links with Tiny Forests can work in other powerful ways too: the Tiny Forest in the town of Barry has become part of the Welsh national forest and an ambitious scheme to create a network of woodland that runs the entire length and breadth of the Wales.
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Inspiration listen
Do Something Bigger
What would inspire you to do something bigger for climate and nature? In this, the first episode of the Carbon Copy Podcast series, Do Something Bigger, we introduce our year-long campaign: 25…
Do something bigger
We can all plant and grow more trees, as a community group, council, company or as members of other organisations. But what does ‘more’ look like if you want to do something bigger?
More tree cover
By mapping English tree cover in extraordinary detail, Friends of the Earth can help us see the differing levels by local authority. There’s a big opportunity for more councils to increase the tree cover in their local area. For example, the latest UK Council Climate Action Scorecards have revealed that only 33 out of 186 single-tier councils have a target to increase tree cover, with a tree management plan in place as they grow. The UK government hasn’t set a target for neighbourhood tree cover, although it has set a target for England as a whole. At urban neighbourhood level, some people point to an evidence-based 3-30-300 rule for the provision of more trees: everyone should be able to see at least three trees from their home; there should be a 30% tree canopy cover in each neighbourhood; and 300 metres should be the maximum distance to the nearest high-quality public green space.
More participants
Wirral Council is on course for 210,000 new trees by 2030 that will result in increasing Wirral’s canopy cover from 13% to 25%. The council’s impressive tree strategy has prompted the creation of the Wirral Initiative on Trees, which brings a broad and diverse group of local organisations together – from tree and park wardens to wildlife groups and countryside volunteers to beekeepers – to help plant ‘the right trees in the right place’. Tree planting is people intensive and the good news is that there is no financial barrier to volunteer-based participation in tree planting; it is an inclusive activity where, ability permitting, most people can make a significant contribution.
More carbon captured
At The Carbon Community in Cynghordy, Wales, they are taking a new science-led approach to reforestation to increase carbon sequestration in trees and soil. In a landmark project near the Bannau, the team is looking at two types of forest, broadleaf and conifer, and two nature-based approaches, enhanced rock weathering and soil microbiome rewilding, which are studied both individually and in combination. In a field trial never previously deployed together at scale, The Carbon Community intends to demonstrate how to capture more carbon more quickly in more places, while planting the same number of trees.
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