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A fifth of all the UK’s farmland needs to
be used to tackle climate change by 2050,
according to government climate advisors.
The UK’s forestry cover needs to expand
from 13% to at least 17%, the Committee
on Climate Change (CCC) said, while the
public will need to cut beef, lamb and dairy
consumption by 20%.EAGER BEAVERS
The National Trust has
released a pair of adult
beavers on Exmoor in
an effort to improve
biodiversity and tackle
flooding and drought.WOOD IS GOOD
Building new buildings
with timber, rather than
other materials, offers the
chance to store carbon on
a vast scale, according to
a new study carried out at
Yale School of Forestry and
Environmental Studies.IT’S
EASY
BEING
GREEN
The energy used by most
people in their homes still
comes from fossil fuels,
leading to around 20 per cent
of the UK’s greenhouse gas
emissions. But people can takesteps to reduce their energy
use – and bills – according
to the Energy Saving Trust.
Homeowners can insulate
roofs and walls, and use
double glazing in good
condition. Simply draught-
proofing doors and windowscan stop homes from losing
heat, and is something many
people can do themselves.
However, make sure not
to block any intentional
ventilation, such as extractor
fans, so that air can still flow
through the building.“The study vastly
overestimated the
amount of carbonwhich could be
stored by growing
trees, and failed to
assess the impactson ecosystems”
INSPIRED
EXPIRED
LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION
“A trillion trees is potentially
a really bad idea, because of
the ways that we must think
about the implementation,” said
Dr Joseph Veldman, assistant
professor of ecology at the Texas
A&M University and lead author
of the critique. Choosing the right
location is important. “Many
of the places that are already
deforested are not available to
be turned back into forest,” he
said, which means that trees may
be planted in other types of less
suitable landscapes.
“We know that maintaining
current intact forests, savannahs
and grasslands – existing
ecosystems that don’t need to be
restored – would be a better bet
for carbon, rather than let them be
destroyed and then have to plant
some new trees,” he explained.
Last year’s report on land use by
the International Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) also warned that
widespread tree planting, also
known as ‘afforestation’, could
come with risks. For example, it
could increase competition for
land and threaten food security by
raising food prices.
However, the IPCC concluded
that at least some afforestation
is likely to be needed in order
to limit global warming to 1.5°C
above pre-industrial levels.DISCOVERIES
“The options we’re proposing would
see farmers and land managers delivering
actions to reduce emissions,” said Lord
Deben, chairman of the committee.
The changes in land use would need
funding of £1.4bn per year, but could
produce a net social benefits of £3.3bn a
year, the committee said.exaggerated and could distract
from other important policies.
The initiative references a
widely reported study by Swiss
researchers published last year in
the journal Science, that claimed
planting a trillion trees could
capture a third of all the carbon
released by humans since the
Industrial Revolution. However, a
team of 46 scientists carried out a
strong critique that was published
in the same scientific journal
shortly after.
They argued the study had
vastly overestimated the amount
of carbon which could be stored
by growing trees, and failed to
assess the impacts on people and
ecosystems where these trees
would be planted.TIME TO JUMP SHIP
Powering ships with liquid
natural gas (LNG) rather than
conventional fuels does not
benefit the climate, a report
from the International Council
on Clean Transportation has found.
This is because LNG is mostly methane,
which is a powerful greenhouse gas.NO DAM GOOD
Planned hydropower dams around the
world could greatly increase threats to
many freshwater fish species by breaking
up their habitats, a study from Radboud
University in the Netherlands has found.INSULATE YOUR HOME
FARMLAND HAS A KEY ROLE TO PLAY IN TACKLING CLIMATE CHANGE