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Species Mix

Experts identify actions needed to mitigate potentially catastrophic threats to UK Forests

November 29, 2023 by Sarah Lawton

New paper published highlighting key issues that must be addressed if our woodlands are to continue to deliver the range of benefits on which we depend.

A chilly pathway through the forest

Woodknowledge Wales’ Specialist Advisor Wood Science, Dainis Dauksta, and new board member Professor John Healey from Bangor University, joined a team of 42 European experts to carry out a horizon-scanning exercise and identify previously overlooked opportunities and threats faced by UK forests over the next 50 years.

Results were published in, ‘A horizon scan of issues affecting UK forest management within 50 years‘ by Tew et al., whichwas published in Forestry: An International Journal of Forest Research in November 2023 [1]

Dr Eleanor Tew, Head of Forest Planning at Forestry England and visiting researcher at Cambridge’s Department of Zoology emphasised that “The next 50 years will bring huge changes to UK forests: the threats they face, the way that we manage them, and the benefits they deliver to society” [2]

John Healey, Professor of Forest Sciences at Bangor University further explained that “There are many challenges to overcome to ensure that our woodlands not only provide crucial habitat for biodiversity conservation, and environments that are invaluable for human wellbeing, but also continue to produce wood as a vital renewable material that has a key role to play in achieving net zero emissions to meet the challenge of the climate crisis.” [3]

In the new paper, the authors focus on 15 emerging issues from a collated list of 180 that, while previously overlooked, are expected to have significant impact on UK forests over the next half century.

Source: Figure 2 Tew et al, A horizon scan of issues affecting UK forest management within 50 years, Forestry

In their thematic analysis, the authors were able to map all fifteen issues across eleven themes of significance within three main categories: environmental shocks and perturbations, political and socio-economic drivers, and emerging interactions, as shown in Figure 2 above.

The top-ranking issue in the final list when scored individually by the expert panel was ‘Catastrophic forest ecosystem collapse’. A reference to the cascading consequences caused by the interconnected impact of a combination of hazards affecting forest environments, this level of damage to forest ecosystems has already been witnessed in North America and continental Europe. Other threats include competition with society for water, viral diseases, and extreme weather affecting forest management.

While delivering an unequivocal tale of caution and call to action, the final list of 15 issues summarised in the paper’s abstract includes a number of opportunities that are key to mitigating the adverse outcomes of climate change on both the natural world and human societies.

“It was notable that three of the selected 15 issues focused on predicted shifts in future wood product markets and the challenge of ensuring that commercial forest resources do match future value chains. It was important that the Woodknowledge Wales and Bangor University participants in the Expert Panel played a valuable role in advocating for the inclusion of these issues and developing their description in the resulting paper,” said Healey.

Summarising the significance of the expert review as a whole, Professor Bill Sutherland, Senior author and pioneer of horizon scanning at the Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, noted “We are already seeing dramatic events in Europe’s forests whether fires, disease or bark beetles, whilst the importance of trees is increasingly recognised. Horizon scanning to identify future issues is key, especially as trees planted now will face very different circumstances as they mature in scores of years.”  [2]

This research was funded by Forestry England. The Forestry Commission is bringing the sector together in 2024 to look at next steps.

References

1: Tew et al, A horizon scan of issues affecting UK forest management within 50 years, Forestry DOI: 10.1093/forestry/cpad047

2: University of Cambridge Press release: 8 November 2023, www.cam.ac.uk/research/news, Accessed 13 November 2023

3. University of Bangor Press release, 8 November 2023, www.bangor.ac.uk/news/, Accessed 25 November 2023

Filed Under: Afforestation, Climate Adaptation, Forestry, News, Species Mix, Woodland Management Tagged With: forestry, news

Top five alternative conifer tree species review

June 28, 2021 by admin


Forests and woodlands are as much part of the mix of solutions for the Biodiversity and Climate Emergency as they are themselves under threat from it.
The UK Climate Change Committee have set out strong recommendations for 30,000 hectares of new woodland per annum by 2050 (UKCCC, 2020), of which a significant portion will likely be commercial plantation woodlands. Expansion and sustainable management of this new woodland will act as a mechanism for meeting UN Sustainable Development Goal 15, combatting climate change, improving home-grown timber supply for the construction sector, and providing a wide range of valuable public goods.
Plantations, alongside other forms of woodland creation, have an important role in carbon sequestration and biodiversity conservation, providing public amenity and recreational benefits and biodiversity conservation. The coniferous forest resource in Great Britain is increasingly expected to deliver a broad range of ecosystem services to society; this alongside the provision of timber and other forest products, through management for multiple objectives, often within a small geographical area.
Welsh Government commissioned Woodknowledge Wales to conduct a review to identify the top five alternative commercial tree species suitable to meet timber utilisation demands in light of increasing potential pest and disease pressures as a result of climate change.
Our approach to identifying the top five alternative tree species for GB has drawn on and collated the existing knowledge base through literature review and inputs from a broad range of stakeholders. It does not capture experience found on the ground which has not been published, yet. Results should be seen as a starting point for further investigation.
In this sense, we have set out on a journey of collaboration bringing together stakeholders to discuss potential ways forward. If you would like participate in our future stakeholder workshops, please get in touch.
Please note this an amended version of the report published on the 23rd June 2021 which now lists the top five ranked species in Table 3.6 in the correct order (Thuja plicata and Sequoiadendron giganteum were in the wrong order in previous versions).
English:
DOWNLOAD SUMMARY
DOWNLOAD FULL REPORT
Cymraeg:
Dadlwythwch grynodeb
lawrlwytho’r adroddiad llawn

Filed Under: Forestry, News, Resources, Species Mix Tagged With: Afforestation, forestry, Policy Briefing

Japanese Larch and its Innovative Applications in Construction 2014

February 28, 2014 by admin

The Wales Forest Business Partnership (WFBP) have surveyed 55 Japanese larch sites across Wales and estimate that 4.9 metre sawlogs make up 24% of the total crop of 1.89 million cubic metres. This could produce around 1 million cubic metres of sawnwood or 50,000 timber framed and timber clad three bedroomed houses. Add in projected volumes of sawnwood from The Marches and these figures increase to anything between 68,750 and 76,725 houses.
Download

Filed Under: Construction, Forestry, Grading, Manufacturing, Policy Briefing, Processing, Resources, Species Mix, Technical Briefing, Welsh Timber Tagged With: Building Elements, Case Study, Processing

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