The Wider Benefits of Woodland Creation

Woodland creation generates a multitude of other ecological, environmental, social and economic benefits:

Webinar: Crafting Nature-Based Solutions for Your Business

This webinar outlines the fundamental principles of nature-based solutions, focusing particularly on woodland creation and peatland restoration.

CarbonStore Sponsor 2021 Tree Oscars to reward Climate Change Champion

A new Climate Change Champion prize has been added to Scotland’s Finest Woods Awards as the ‘Tree Oscars’ return in 2021. The Climate Change Champion Award, sponsored by CarbonStore, will be chosen by judges from entries to all 2021 Awards categories. All entries can identify and highlight what their project will contribute to tackling climate […]

Tree Oscars

The Wider Benefits of Woodland Creation

19 October 2023

The UK can Benefit from Woodland Creation

Aside from the previously discussed benefits of trees as the most effective (and wholly natural) carbon sink available, woodland creation generates a multitude of other ecological, environmental, social and economic benefits.

Improve Biodiversity:

Woodlands provide essential habitats to a wealth of wildlife, including nesting birds, shade-loving plants (known as sciophytes), and fungi. Tree planting has a central role in our efforts to tackle our biodiversity crisis

Flood Mitigation: 

A mature tree captures over 700 gallons of water per year. A recent survey estimated that carefully planted patches of woodland across a river basin can stem the flow velocity in the neighbouring river, when rainfall is high, by almost 50%.

Water Filter:

Flood water often contains high levels of phosphorus pollutants and nitrogen. Without trees, that flood water would flow directly into rivers and lakes without being filtered. Trees break the rainfall allowing soil microbes to transform the pollutants

Reducing Soil Erosion: 

Wind and rain are the two largest natural forces eroding our soils. Raindrops have the power and momentum to penetrate soil when they hit the ground. If the land is dry, wind can do significant damage. Trees break up droplets of rain and weaken their strength while roots hold the soil together and protect it from the effects of wind.

Health Benefits:

According to Forest Research:
Woodlands provide an opportunity to exercise in a calm and restful environment. Exercise in woodlands relieves physical symptoms such as high blood pressure and obesity, as well as mental symptoms of stress and depression.

Timber’s Sustainability Benefits:

Timber has the lowest embodied energy (i.e. energy used in its processing, production, and transport, from tree to consumer use) of any mainstream building material, and significantly less than for steel, concrete, or aluminium.

These wide-ranging advantages of trees mean that woodland creation can provide an entirely natural but almost perfectly designed antidote to many of society’s most serious challenges. We are suffering an unprecedented loss to our biodiversity in the UK. Extreme hydrological events are rising.

According to the Environment Secretary, we are “30-40 years from a complete eradication of soil fertility in parts of the UK”. Finally, we are increasingly in need of a home-grown timber resource to meet the government’s target for new, sustainable homes.

The User’s Guide to the Woodland Carbon Market

CarbonStore has produced this User Guide, so all parties have a clear understanding of the terminology and the processes involved in the selling and purchasing of woodland generated carbon units. You can download the PDF below.

How can CarbonStore help you?

In partnership with Tilhill, CarbonStore can help you deliver new woodland creation and woodland-based carbon mitigation projects that not only achieves the highest possible standards in carbon offsetting but also offers many widespread benefits which we can all enjoy.

Please contact David McCulloch, the head of CarbonStore, personally either by email (david.mcculloch@carbonstoreuk.com) or by phone (07500 950832).

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Pending Issuance Unit: A promise to deliver a Woodland Carbon Unit during a given period, based on the trees’ predicted growth Woodland Carbon Unit: A ton of carbon dioxide which has been sequestered in a scheme verified under the Woodland Carbon Code