In a newly published position statement, the Bumblebee Conservation Trust warns about the dangers for nature’s recovery if we get mass tree planting and woodland creation wrong.
The UK has ambitious legally binding targets to significantly increase tree cover across the country as part of efforts to reach net zero and recover nature. The right kind of woodlands can be of great benefit to bumblebees, providing essential food and shelter, but if trees take the place of our last remaining good quality open habitats, like flower-rich grasslands, our pollinator populations will suffer.
Britain’s grasslands are estimated to store 2 billion tonnes of carbon within their soils and can be some of our most nature-rich habitats, yet there are no equivalent targets to restore them. Grasslands are undervalued for their role in tackling the climate and nature crises, and the Trust is advocating for more investment in grasslands, including the development of appropriate safeguards to prevent them from being inappropriately planted on.
Darryl Cox, Senior Science and Policy Officer at the Bumblebee Conservation Trust said, “Expanding tree cover across the UK is an essential part of how we tackle climate change and help nature to recover, but it’s important we approach any large-scale land use change with caution. We’re concerned that open-flowery habitats, which bumblebees and other pollinators rely on, are going to be planted on in the name of carbon sequestration, despite being useful carbon stores in their own right. We’ve already seen losses of more than 97% of flower-rich grassland areas over the last hundred years, resulting in widespread declines in wild plants and pollinators. We can’t afford to lose any more. We’re asking governments to value the role these habitats can play by including them in the overall strategy to tackle climate change.”
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Posted On: 29/02/2024