The equivalent of 750 football pitches of new woodland needs to be established in Oxfordshire every year between now and 2050 to meet Climate Change Committee targets, a new report has revealed.
The Oxfordshire Treescapes Project is a new advisory service to support farmers and landowners.
In its new report, ‘Our Land, Our Future’, it highlights how the benefits of treescapes, such as, woodland, hedgerows and species-rich grassland are currently being delivered at a fraction of their true potential across the county.
The reports shows that while food production is at 94 per cent of its full potential, carbon capture and storage is only at 17 per cent and natural flood management is being delivered at 19 per cent.
In order to meet the Climate Change Committee’s net zero targets for 2050, the report finds that; hedgerows need to be reintroduced to 20 per cent of agricultural fields across the county.
Watlington Climate Action Group teamed up with hedge expert Nigel Adams to map the hedgerows in their parish. They want to understand the natural assets they already have, and support farmers in managing their hedges and find ways to plant more.
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The report also suggests Oxfordshire could go twice as far as the Climate Change Committee recommends, resulting in a 70 per cent increase in carbon capture rates to reach 12 per cent of the county’s 2018 emissions. It could result in an estimated threefold increase in areas delivering natural flood management; a fourfold increase in the area delivering air quality improvements; a 180 per cent increase in the area delivering recreation and wellbeing benefits; and an 11 per cent increase in biodiversity.
Project co-ordinator Jamie Hartzell calls for people to come together and agree on a plan of action. He said: “We clearly need to rebuild our natural environment, farm with nature rather than against it, and build resilience into our land.
“Treescapes, if sited in the right place and for the right reason, are part of the solution. But trees take many years to mature, so we must act now if we are to realise these benefits by 2050.”
The Oxfordshire Treescapes Project, newly created by the charity GrowGreenCarbon with the support of Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute, is designed to support farmers and landowners maximise opportunities to address biodiversity loss, slow climate change, reduce flooding and contribute to both human wellbeing and food production.
The Project has created opportunity maps which show the right and wrong places to introduce woodlands and hedgerows into rural and urban Oxfordshire.
Mr Hartzell said: “A tree in the right place can reduce flooding, limit air pollution and offer recreational benefits but in the wrong place it may simply damage a valuable existing habitat such as meadows or wetlands."
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