The story of forestry in Britain is unique. Our forests provide us with a range of benefits reflecting the changing needs and demands of society. Today, trees, woods and forests are expected to contribute to improving health, building resilient communities, and adapting to climate change. As British society’s perceptions and relationship with woods and trees change, the response is an evolution of policy and governance systems, forms of engagement, and mitigation actions in urban and rural areas.

Aimed at policy makers, researchers and agencies involved in British forestry and land use, the objectives of this conference, organised by Forest Research, the Research Agency of the Forestry Commission, are to:
• discuss societal and economic trends shaping the management of British trees and forests in both urban and rural contexts;
• share experiences of responses to these trends and how society can successfully engage with its woodland resource;
• identify future research and policy directions needed to meet emerging challenges.

Further details are available from the Forestry Research website.

A report being launched today at Bristol Zoo shows that 48% of the world’s 634 primate species, which includes apes, monkeys and lemurs, are threatened with extinction. The report, which was compiled by 85 primatologists, highlights the top 25 most endangered primate species, including the golden headed langur, found in north-eastern Vietnam, whose population is down to between 60 and 70 individuals. The main threats to primates are illegal logging, hunting and trade, and fragmentation of forests through fires.

The report aims to encourage governments to find resources to implement greater conservation measures. Indeed, there is evidence that conservation measures can be effective in helping primate species to recover: more than 30 years of conservation effort at zoos and by scientists enabled the black lion tamarin to be moved from “critically endangered” to “endangered” on the IUCN Red List.

The UN’s Redd programme (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries) involves rich countries paying developing countries to maintain their forests in order to prevent further greenhouse gas emissions. The programme might also involve incentives for developing countries to plant more trees and would be highly valuable for primate conservation.

Source: Guardian, 18th January 2010

The BES Policy Team yesterday attended the launch of the National Assessment of UK Forestry and Climate Change report, an exercise established by the Forestry Commission and conducted by a team of experts, led by Professor Sir David Read, Biological Secretary of the Royal Society and Professor of Plant Sciences at the University of Sheffield.

Professor Sir Read began the afternoon with a presentation outlining the main results of the report, which examines the potential of UK forests to assist society in mitigating and adapting to, climate change. The Assessment set out to review and synthesise existing knowledge, to provide baseline information on forests in the UK and to identify gaps and weaknesses to determine research priorities for the next few years.

From the 1950’s – 70’s around 25,000 hectares of woodland was planted each year, but this has declined massively in recent years: we are now harvesting the trees planted during these decades and, as this occurs and forests aren’t replaced, the sequestration of carbon by trees in the UK will fall. UK forests store 790 megatonnes of carbon and remove 15 megatonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere each year. The headline conclusion of the Assessment is that traditional management of the tree stock we already have is not sufficient. In order to enhance sequestration we have to plant new woodland, approximately 23,000 hectares per year on an annual basis from now to 2050.

Professor Read also highlighted ’substitution’, carbon lock-up after felling, as a key way in which the forestry sector could contribute to tackling climate change in the UK. Wood should be used as biomass, as a substitute for fossil fuels, and wood should be greater used by the construction sector.

Professor Read highlighted, albeit briefly, that the Assessment’s proposals would pose difficult questions for the conservation of biodiversity in woodland communities in the UK, particularly given recommendations that non-native tree species (e.g. from the Mediterranean) make up the new forests – as these species may be more likely to thrive as the climate warms. Professor Read called for immediate field-trials to identify those species which it would be most appropriate to grow in the UK, and which would be least likely to beome invasively.

Professor Read’s presentation was followed by an address from the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Hilary Benn, who remained afterwards to take questions as part of the panel discussion. Mr Benn welcomed the report on behalf of the Government, stating that as a nation the UK will have to plant more trees and that the Government will have to ensure that this happens. Alluding to the TEEB (The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity) study, the Minister stressed that trees must be assigned a value standing, as they are felled, and that the UK Government is wiling to pledge its share at the forthcoming Copenhagen climate negotiations to support a REDD (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation) mechanism in developing countries. Mr Benn is due to host a round-table of environment Ministers today, with the Director of the IUCN, examining the sustainable use of the world’s forests.

One major point to emerge from the discussion session following the presentations was the need to recognise the increasing threat posed to trees by pests and disease, with losses eroding any gains in coverage through planting more trees. Increasingly mild and wet winters are likely to favour the development and survival of pathogen populations. Panellists stressed the need to apply science to find a solution, with the Minister drawing attention to a £25 million Defra-funded research project into two major tree diseases. Nevertheless, there was acknowledgment that it will be necessary to live with some future tree diseases, and their consequences.

The Forestry Commission and UK Government will now consider the contents of the report before making a decision on how to implement its recommendations.

British woodlands are more similar to one another today than 70-years ago, report researchers today in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

A team of scientists from the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, led by Sally Keith at the University of Bournemouth, surveyed 86 sites in Dorset, comparing the plant species found against records of plant species found in the 1930s. The results show that the woodlands are more homogenous than in the past. The researchers conclude that changes in traditional methods of woodland management, for example a reduction in coppicing, has had an impact; reducing the light to the woodland floor and affecting plant growth.

Commenting on the research, Sally Keith says: “The results show that we must monitor biodiversity at the landscape scale, as well as gain a better understanding of processes affecting our native flora, if we are to conserve and restore the character of the traditional British woodland.”

The government has pledged £25 million to help eradicate the plant diseases Phytophthora kernoviae and Phytophthora ramorum, which are spreading across the UK.

Phytophthora kernoviae and Phytophthora ramorum are fungus-like pathogens which cause potentially lethal infections in oak and beech trees, as well as infecting and damaging other trees and shrubs which make up Britain’s woodlands.

The pathogens were first discovered in the the UK in 2003 and 2002, respectively. The scale of the outbreak was significant enough for emergency measures against the introduction and spread of Phytophthora ramorum to be introduced throughout the EU in November 2002 and a ‘Phytophthora kernoviae Management Zone’ was established in the UK in 2004. Whilst the number of outbreaks subsequently decreased, 69 sites in England and Wales are still affected by the disease.

The extent of the damage these Phytophthora species cause to trees and shrubs, and the speed at which symptoms develop, mean that they pose a potentially serious threat to woodland and heathland environments. A major epidemic in the UK could have potentially devastating consequences on the landscape, biodiversity, tourism and horticulture.

Rhododendrons, a carrier of both diseases, will continue to be removed in woodland to tackle the problem. The government also plans to invest a significant portion of the £25million into new research and development, and there will be a campaign to make landowners aware of the threat.

Read more about this story on the BBC News website

Visist Defra’s Plant Health home pages

Scientists have recently discovered that a tree fungus Gliocladium roseum, produces compounds of long-chain hydrocarbons very similar in structure to commercial diesel.

The lead scientist of the research, Gary Strobel, from Montana State University said: “This is the only organism that has ever been shown to produce such an important combination of fuel substances… …we were totally surprised to learn that it was making a plethora of hydrocarbons.”

The work is due to be published in the journal Microbiology next month, where the compounds have been described as ‘mycodiesels.’ The research also documents the ability of the fungus to break down cellulose – the structure that makes up the plant cell wall with lignin – to create the mycodiesel. Previously, cellulose has been converted to biofuels in a two-step process requiring enzymes to create sugars from the cell wall followed by microbes to convert sugars to ethanol.

The find illustrates the very real and unthinkably diverse compounds in the depths of our remaining forests, and highlights the desperate need to conserve what we have left. The research also comes at a time when traditional taxonomy is in precipitous decline, making the case to educate more young taxonomists even stronger. There is great potential for the discovery of new medicines and fuels derived from biodiversity across many ecosystems, from forests to the marine environment.

Although excited by the news, Tariq Butt, a fungus expert based at Swansea University, urged caution:

“Concept-wise, the discovery and its potential applications are fantastic. However, more research is needed, as well as a pilot study to determine the costs and benefits. Even so, another potential supply of renewable fuel allows us to diversify our energy sources and is certainly an exciting discovery.”

Climate change remains a present and future threat to biodiversity. REDD, Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation, aims to curb climate change by conserving the world’s remaining forests.

REDD aim to ensure that measures to tackle climate change include accounting for the carbon sinks that forests and bogs provide. After lenghty dialogue, both the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol have made provisions to reduce emissions released from forest degradation and deforestation.

December 07 witnessed the unilateral agreement between the conference of the parties to strengthen agreements made at the fourteenth conference. UNEP and WCMC have now produced a paper that outlines opportunities for multiple benefits of forest protection, including increased watershed and coastal protection.

It seems likely that protection of native forests will offer greater resilience to the effects of climate change than new plantations, and this should be taken into consideration in decision-making.

A high citation index is an interpretation of the effectiveness of science communication between scientists, not to mention the importance and relevance of the research, within that particular field. But is a highly cited paper an indication of effective communication to the public and policy makers?

Writing in NERC’s Planet Earth publication, Alan Grainger recalled that research by Oliver Phillips in the late nineties illustrated just how tropical forests, not only store, but sequester carbon, set about a chain of events that resulted in the creation of RAINFOR, a multinational scientific network.

RAINFOR has published and continues to publish an extensive body of research in highly ranked journals. The research has reached policy makers in two distinct ways; indirectly through the IPCC and directly through a report by the British Government that used a synthesis of RAINFOR research at a UN convention on climate change.

Because the results of RAINFOR’s work has been effectively communicated to policy-makers, initiatives such as carbon-offset schemes that involve planting forests have been operationalised. However international policy has yet to fully take on board the full implications of their research, such as conserving existing natural forests. If effectively valued and incorporated into the carbon offset markets, forests are worth orders of magnitude more standing then cleared.

Publishing in leading journals such as Science and Nature often results in a level of exposure to the media that would not otherwise be received in the ’smaller’ journals. The BES journals (Journal of Ecology, Functional Ecology, Journal of Animal Ecology and Journal of Applied Ecology) are ranked some of the highest within ecology; all but one ranked inside the top twenty ecology journals. Concurrently, extensive media coverage highlights scientific developments to policy-makers. This can be particularly effective when the paper clearly has policy relevance, such as Professor Bill Sutherland’s paper in the Journal of Applied Ecology in 2006: The identification of 100 questions of high policy-relevance in the UK.

When Alan Grainier reported that UN estimates of forest loss could be overinflated due to their statistical modeling techniques, and possibly underestimating the influence of natural forest regrowth, he stressed the importance of errors when making forest estimates. So that the message wasn’t misinterpreted in his research, he emphasised the need for a better monitoring system. After exposure from the BBC, and subsequently across the globe, it is hoped that carbon credits trading under REDD, (Reducing GHG Emissions through Deforestation and forest Degradation), will consider Alan’s idea of creating a World Forest Observatory.

Finally, interacting directly with ministers is an effective means of translating science into policy. Meetings and conferences attended by ministers, are a great opportunity for scientists to interact with politicians and present their ideas and findings.

Scientists must always be mindful that, in order to get the message across, they should be clear, non-technical and succinct, so as not to alienate their subject.

As existing oil supply reaches its peak and begins to dwindle, rather than investing in clean alternatives, oil companies are seeking to continue profiteering from remaining stocks that are locked up in remote, sensitive and fragile biomes such as the Amazon.

The western Amazon, (which includes Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, Brazil and Columbia) is relatively untouched, yet plans have been hatched to open up the region to scout for and extract oil.

Close to 180 ‘blocks’ that have been allocated by regional governments overlap with some of the most biologically diverse regions of Amazonia, not to mention some of the last few uncontacted tribes in the region. In Peru, 58 of the 64 blocks allocated to prospective oil companies have already been allocated to indigenous tribes.

As directly illustrated by the recent documentary led by Bruce Parry on the BBC, once roads have been carved through the forest, it can become cleared for at least 30km either side of the road. Spillover effects include increased levels of illegal bushmeat hunting, logging and human settlement.

However the human element cannot be taken out of the equation. Many involved in activities that lead to forest destruction directly or indirectly, do it out of financial necessity or survival. Positive engagement and incentivisation not to destroy and take at the local level is required, and this needs to begin at the government level. Research into the value of the ecosystem services provided by the forests suggests they are worth considerably more standing than cleared. However, without funds directed from the thriving ‘carbon market’ and invested in the forest, they will continue to be destroyed for local and commercial purposes.

The researchers in Finer et al’s study outline the following policy initiatives to curb the social and ecological breakdown:

• roadless extraction methods to greatly reduce these impacts
• attention to be paid to the rights of indigenous peoples, especially those living in voluntary isolation who by definition cannot be consulted or give their consent
• clarification of who controls the land and its oil and gas resources as this would greatly influence the development of the region
• regional Strategic Environmental Assessments conducted by neutral parties to prevent habitat fragmentation and progressive damage across large areas of untouched forest
• support Ecuador’s Yasuni-ITT proposal², which seeks compensation from the international community in exchange for leaving the country’s largest oil fields, located beneath untouched rainforest, unexploited.

Sceptics believe that economising the forests could lead to rich countries being allocated funds for their remaining rainforest’s as well. Priority really should be given to developing countries that house some of the most biologically diverse regions in the world. What is certain is unless real action is taken soon, there will be little left on the ground to conserve.

BES members and genuine blog readers are invited to comment

Source: Finer, M., Jenkins, C., Pimm, S., et al. (2008). Oil and Gas Projects in the Western Amazon: Threats to Wilderness, Biodiversity, and Indigenous Peoples. PLoS One. 3(8): e2932 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0002932.

The Prince of Wales has called upon hard-nosed city financiers to invest in Rainforests. Top city officials including Robert Swannell, Vice President of Citi Europe and Chris Gibson-Smith, chairman of the London Stock Exchange are among invitees to Mansion House tonight to discuss methods of investing billions in conservation schemes globally.

The carbon market is thought to be the best way of investing in forests, however presently most investment is directed towards new plantations rather than preserving standing forests.

Stanley Fink, former chief executive of Man Group, stated that if the true value of rainforests was reflected in their price, then they would not be cut down. Speaking to the Financial Times, Mr Fink stated that [ecosystem] services provided by the forests were worth around £8,500 per hectare of forest, as opposed to the £100-200 obtained through agriculture. The true value may in fact be much higher if retrospective carbon sequestration and other historical ecosystem services were included in the valuation.

Businesses including Macdonalds, Goldman Sachs, Shell and Rio Tinto will be represented at tonight’s dinner at Mansion House.

See the Prince’s Rainforest Project website here: http://www.princesrainforestsproject.org/