From food production to flood prevention - Why planting trees will help save us from ourselves.

Why do we need more trees in the UK?

"Trees I believe will help save us from ourselves" Gabriel Hemery (Sylva Foundation)
"Planting trees delivers at least five good things" says Harriet Bell (Regenerative Farming Lead- Riverford Farms)

In this film Tom Barnes and myself, Charly Le Marchant, set out to ask as many knowledgeable and passionate experts, as would talk to us "Why we should be planting more trees in the UK now ?"

Tree planting for carbon sequestration was a popular topic politically during the last election. Millions of trees were promised by political parties. That we can plant our way out of the climate crisis is a very soothing thought. Tree planting is seen as a nature based solution to climate change. In our last film we looked in detail at whether we can plant enough trees in the UK to take us to Net Zero -    • Planting trees for Carbon Sequestrati...  

However it is also clear that there are many other amazing things that trees can do and problems that they can solve. This film touches on some of those reasons.

Our contributors:
Harriet Bell - Regenerative Farming Lead - Riverford, John Deakin - Head of Trees and Woodlands for the National Trust, Gabriel Hemery from the Sylva Foundation, Small Woodlander - Doug King-Smith, Jon Freeman at Devon Wildlife Trust , Jim Blackburn of The Timber Frame Company - as well as Reintroductions Expert, Derek Gow, & Biochemist and Botanist Diana Beresford-Kroger.

Topics covered:
#agroforestry #silvopasture #food production, #timber production, #sustainability #resiliance #flooding prevention #drought resistance, #shelter , #Wind Protection, #oxygenproduction, #forest #co2 #Photosynthesis #biodiversity #rewilding, #temperaterainforest , #climatecrisis, #nature #biodiversitycrisis, #ashdieback #carbonoffset #woodlandmanagment #dartmoor #deciduous #firebreak #woodland #wood #sustainableagriculture #farming

Two Minutes to Midnight, Living Planet, Climate Regulation, Habitat for Wildlife, Timber Engineered Materials, Tree Equity, Tree Poverty,


00:00 "Trees I believe will help save us from ourselves" Gabriel Hemery (Sylva Foundation)
00:12 "Tree planting can deliver at least five good things" Harriet Bell (Regenerative Farming Lead Riverford Farms)
00:24 "We are in a climate crisis and a nature and biodiversity crisis" John Deakin (Head of Trees and Woodlands National Trust)
00:43 "We have to create landscapes that are resilient and trees can help us greatly with this" Derek Gow (Reintroduction Expert, Farmer and Author)
00:54 "We have to plant more trees we are part of a living planet" Dr Diana Beresford-Kroeger (Botanist, Medical Biochemist and Author)
01:01 "When things become volatile beyond our shores it makes life very difficult for us here" Jim Blackburn (The Timber Frame Company)
01:13 Tom Barnes (Wood for the Trees) Introduction to 'Why we need more trees?'
02:11 "Trees are essential to life" Gabriel Hemery (Sylva Foundation)
03:00 "Timber is simple to work with and build with, it ties up carbon within its structure and can be recycled" Jim Blackburn (The Timber Frame Company)
04:10 "The most universal most important reaction on the planet is the photosynthetic reaction" Dr Diana Beresford-Kroeger (Botanist, Medical Biochemist and Author)
05:15 "We need 'tree equity'. People's demand for nature and woodlands had never been more acute." John Deakin (Head of Trees and Woodlands National Trust)
06:12 " Trees produce living space for all sorts of other creatures" Derek Gow (Reintroduction Expert, Farmer and Author)
06:52 "You have to think about maintaining your forests in the temperate rainforest system that you have" Dr Diana Beresford-Kroeger (Botanist, Medical Biochemist and Author)
07:26 "Ash dieback means a huge number of trees lost out of the landscape" Jon Freeman (Saving Devon's Treescapes, Advisory Officer, Devon Wildlife Trust)
08:12 "We've got tree poverty. we're one of the least wooded countries in Europe"Gabriel Hemery (Sylva Foundation)
08:33 "It's not just planting trees that we're talking about - it's creating Landscapes with multiple layers of benefit." Doug King-Smith (Small Woodland Owner, The Hillyfield)
09:36 "We need trees to be there once again as part of this landscaping in a way we never needed and appreciated them before. "Derek Gow (Reintroduction Expert, Farmer and Author)
11:00 "Farms have a huge potential to sequester more carbon than they emit which is universally beneficial" Harriet Bell (Regenerative Farming Lead Riverford Farms)
12:25 "Planting trees isn't just about a crop of a useful product it's restoring the soil it's bringing in an environment that's beneficial to all the ecology" Doug King-Smith (Small Woodland Owner, The Hillyfield)
13:16 "Planting more trees in the right place for the right reasons can help us humans, our livestock and other creatures and mitigate the effects of drought and extreme heat and even flooding" Tom Barnes (Wood for the Trees UK)
14:20 Participant Info