Creating woodlands is vital for boosting biodiversity, and improving air and water quality. Read how it supports Defra’s 25-Year Environment Plan for a healthier England.
Woodlands are some of the most vital ecosystems on Earth, and given that only 13% of England is currently forested, woodland creation has become a hallmark strategy for the country’s environmental stewardship. Woodlands have more than just a local effect: they provide so many more environmental benefits that reach far beyond their physical borders. The UK is facing multiple challenges, such as a loss of biodiversity, air and water pollution, and climate change. Woodland creation combats all these fronts, yet perhaps the most important reason to create more woodlands is because England is significantly behind the European average of 38% of land area with trees. Let’s call it…Trexit?
Woodland Creation: What Is It, and Why Is It Important in England?
Woodland creation means exactly what it sounds like—establishing new woodlands where there have previously been none. This can be done by actively planting trees, or passively just leaving land alone for trees to spread naturally. Or both. In England however, woodland creation means more than just planting trees. It means restoring ecosystems, enriching biodiversity, and creating defences against climate change.
It’s almost as if woodlands in the UK have been targeted throughout history. Forest cover in Britain had been reduced to as low as only 5% of land by the early 20th century. This was a result of centuries of agricultural expansion, industry, and urban sprawl. Sherwood Forest for example is only 1% of its original size. Imagine Robin Hood stealing from the rich in Hyde Park, or an area only a little bit larger.
Extensive reforestation efforts have increased England’s forest cover to its current level, but England is still one of the least forested countries in Europe. The purpose of woodland creation is to reverse this trend by bringing trees back to the land, increasing biodiversity, and creating larger and more wildlife habitats. Make Sherwood Great Again.
Environmental Benefits of Woodland Creation
Woodland creation naturally has a lot of environmental benefits, and they all play critical roles such as maintaining ecological balance, and even human well-being.
Greater Biodiversity
Biodiversity is extremely important for all life, and woodland creation has a direct impact on this. The larger the forest, the greater the selection of plants and animals, just like the larger London is, the greater selection of good pubs. Forests in the UK are home to more than 40% of all priority species. This includes birds, insects, and mammals. Creating and restoring woodlands provides shelter for this wildlife that has otherwise largely been lost due to intensive agriculture and urban development.
Even new woodlands are home to many species, like small mammals, birds, insects, and fungi. A forest isn’t just a bunch of trees that you see, which is called the understory. If you look more closely, you’ll also see the forest floor and canopy. All three of these support different communities of life. In the UK for example, woodlands are absolutely vital habitats for the nightingale, dormouse, and purple emperor butterfly. With the proper balance of diverse habitats in this landscape, woodlands contribute to a more resilient ecosystem overall. This includes anywhere people live.
No matter what we do as people, we’re going to change our environment. It’s just in our nature. But we can create and use woodlands to act as ecological corridors that can connect habitats, in turn maintaining better genetic diversity, and allowing species to move around. This also helps them to adapt to the changing environment.
Improving Air Quality
Trees are the lungs of our planet. They absorb pollutants and carbon dioxide, and release oxygen. Research suggests that one mature tree can absorb up to 48 pounds of carbon dioxide per year, and produce enough oxygen for two adults. This is how woodlands act as natural air filters for urban and peri-urban areas: they reduce air pollution, and improve air quality overall.
Trees can also absorb sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulates, all of which can be harmful to human health. Research has shown that trees can in fact remove significant amounts of air pollution. For example, trees in London absorb an estimated 224 metric tons of PM10 (particulates) each year. Without trees, this pollution would instead be absorbed by people. This is why it is so important to plant trees, even woodlands, in and around urban areas. Everyone is healthier. Even Londonites.
Natural Flood Management
Trees are extremely important as a natural method of flood management. By reducing erosion due to their roots, they regulate water flow, thus lowering the risk of flooding. This is how it works: trees’ root systems increase soil infiltration, or the amount of water that can soak into the ground, in the same way that ploughed land can hold more water. So instead of rainwater running amok over land and causing a flash flood, it’s instead soaked up like a sponge. This has a significant effect downstream as well, as there will simply be less runoff water concentrating in rivers and streams during heavy rain.
Research also suggests that strategically located woodlands can reduce flood flows by up to 20% in certain catchment areas. The amount of water in such an event would be the same, but woodlands would slow down its movement, giving the land and rivers and streams enough time to do their work. This protects communities and infrastructure, as well.
With less soil erosion, there is less sedimentation, which in turn protects water quality in rivers, lakes, and reservoirs, as there will be less gunk deposited there.
Carbon Sequestration and Climate Change Mitigation
Carbon sequestration, or absorbing carbon dioxide from the air and storing it, is one of the most well-known benefits of having woodlands. This makes trees perhaps the single most important tool in combating climate change. Trees do this by using photosynthesis, and store carbon dioxide in their trunks, roots, and even soil. This process can mitigate, or offset, carbon emissions, thereby reducing the concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
One single hectare of mature forest can capture anywhere between 10 and 30 tonnes of carbon dioxide every year. By creating and expanding woodlands, England can greatly increase and bolster its capacity to absorb and store carbon, which would help to meet its net-zero carbon targets. This is especially important in the UK, a country where land use and deforestation have historically been a net-contributor to carbon emissions.
Carbon sequestration isn’t the only way woodlands can buffer the impacts of climate change. They create shade. This reduces the “heat island effect” in urban areas. Who knew that the simplest solution to the Walkie-Talkie building problem was…trees? Shaded areas don’t experience as much water evaporation or high temperatures, including in forests, so ecosystems can become more resilient. Trees are equally important in forests and in cities.
Improving Water Quality
Woodlands also drastically affect the quality of water by acting as natural filters. They can capture and break down pollutants before they even enter the water table or other bodies of water. Trees and their root systems do this by intercepting rainwater, which is then purified as nature intended. Fertilisers, pesticides, and sediment in the runoff that feeds rivers, lakes and groundwater are reduced as a result.
Riparian woodlands, or forests along riverbanks and streams, are particularly effective at improving water quality. These trees and their root systems act as buffers that keep sediments and pollutants from agricultural runoff from entering the waterways. Studies have shown that riverside forests can remove up to 85% of nitrogen from agricultural runoff water. This is a significant improvement in quality, even better than a Parliamentary election. Riparian woodlands protect aquatic ecosystems just as much as they protect land ecosystems, and promote biodiversity, and a clean and reliable supply of water.
Defra’s 25-Year Environment Plan and Woodlands
The creation and management of woodlands are integral tManaging and creating new woodlands are key to Defra’s 25-Year Environment Plan, which of course sets out the government’s strategy for improving England’s natural environment. The plan recognises the vital role woodlands play in meeting various environmental targets such as enhancing biodiversity and mitigating climate change. And overall public health. Let’s not forget that one!
Expanding Woodland Areas: One of the key targets for the plan is to increase England’s overall woodland cover. While the government’s current goal is to plant at least 30,000 hectares of trees annually by 2025, the actual number achieved could be much higher, or much lower. And with the expected reduced funding to achieve these goals (governments love to cut budgets!). It’s an ambitious project in other words, and it won’t be a walk in the park, no matter how many trees are planted in that park. But the plan does accurately reflect the importance of woodlands in how they deal with the multiple environmental challenges we’re currently facing, from carbon sequestration and habitat creation, to landscape restoration. We’ve got work to do.
Increasing Biodiversity: The 25-Year Environment Plan stresses the need to not only stop biodiversity loss, but to reverse it, by creating and connecting habitats, including woodlands. New woodlands and the expansion of existing ones will provide what wildlife needs to thrive. Many threatened species will have a chance to recover, and many ecosystems can bounce back to life.
Natural Capital and Ecosystem Services: The 25-Year Plan views woodlands as “natural capital”, as they provide ecosystem services. Woodlands are important for people as they provide clean air and water, regulate the climate, and support pollination and pest control. They’re also important venues for recreation and cultural activities. An investment in a forest is an investment in that forest’s ecosystem services, and the benefits these provide for future generations.
Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation: Woodlands play a central role in the plan’s vision for a low-carbon future, and climate resilience. Expanding and managing woodlands will boost carbon sequestration, combat greenhouse gas emissions, and create natural landscapes that can resist flooding and heatwaves.
The Need for Action: Why Woodland Creation Matters Now
The urgency of creating woodlands across England cannot be overstated. The nation faces serious environmental challenges, ranging from habitat loss and climate change, to lower air and water quality. A healthier, more sustainable future for everyone can only be achieved with the help of creating and expanding woodlands.
It’s not just about planting trees—it’s about restoring our ecosystems, enhancing biodiversity, and building resilience to the changing climate. It will involve careful planning, species selection, and proper long-term management to guarantee that our woodlands can provide the maximum environmental benefits possible.
Environmental stewardship isn’t our only goal. The creation and expansion of woodlands provides social and economic benefits as well. New opportunities for recreation, tourism, education, and simply making our landscapes more beautiful will support rural economies. But how? Sustainable forestry, and carbon markets. We’ll talk about that soon though.
Conclusion
Woodland creation is a vital component of environmental stewardship in England. The benefits of a forest extend well beyond the borders of that forest. Enhanced biodiversity, improved air and water quality, natural flood mitigation, and carbon sequestration are only some of the crucial roles woodlands play in the good health of our environment, and our people.
As our initiatives to create and expand woodlands progress, we must adopt an approach that comprehensively considers the long-term environmental, social, and economic benefits. This is how we can ensure that our efforts will contribute to a greener, healthier, and more resilient future for England and beyond. Woodland creation isn’t just an option. It’s a requirement—for sustainable land management, and recovery.
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