Adapting our Forests and Uplands to Climate Change

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Adapting our Forests and Uplands to Climate Change

• Jon Owen Jones
• Chair, Forestry Commission Wales National
  Committee
• September 2008

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Issues

• Climate Change - not just an adaptation role -
  emissions reduction as well
• Economics
• Trade-offs
• Ecosystem services

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Welsh woodlands

• Policy drives include
• One Wales - focus on native woodlands and carbon
  sequestration
• Environment strategy outcomes
• Woodland adaptation to climate change
• The wider role of trees timber in climate
  change mitigation beyond just sequestration
• Ecosystem services approach associated Axis 2
  review
• Renewable energy Route Map

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Ecosystem Services from forests

• The right forests can deliver across all the
  service areas
• Provisioning services - fibre for fuel timber
• Regulating Services - water regulation, erosion
  control, GHG sequestration
• Cultural services - spiritual, inspirational,
  social
• Supporting services - soil formation, habitat,
  nutrient cycling, atmospheric oxygen

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One Wales

• The agreed programme of government for the
  Labour/Plaid ruling coalition
• We will provide support for indigenous
  woodlands, including a tree for all new babies
  and adopted children, helping to create a Welsh
  National Forest of native trees to act as a
  carbon sink.

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Some relevant analysis1

• There are 110,000 of native woodland in Wales or
  some 38 of the total woodland resource
• The remaining 62 is very un-native
• CO2 abatement by woodlands becomes much more
  significant when they are managed for fibre
  timber and the carbon is banked either
  literally in products or via avoided emissions.
  This effect is ongoing and cumulative
• Soil carbon conservation is only an issue on true
  deep peat soils - which are being deforested
  anyway...

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Some relevant analysis2

• Recognised climate change driven woodland
  adaptation strategies such as increased diversity
  lower impact management are well-aligned to
  some policy drivers e.g. landscape, tourism,
  health well-being, environmental change BUT
  less aligned to othersTrade-offs will be
  necessary
• e.g. Better adapted forests will probably provide
  less CO2 abatement BUT they are likely to prove
  more resilient and therefore have a better chance
  of still growing in 100 years time...

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Model-based evaluation - CARBINE (graphs on same
scales to permit comparison)
Carbon reserve
Thin and fell
Continuous cover
Energy forestry
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So we have lots of this now
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and this...
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and less and less of this...
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We need more of this...
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and this...
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and this...
Footnote photograph has been copied from Flickr
Website www.flickr.com and is used within this
presentation for non-commercial profit as per
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But this policy will result in less of this...

• Which equals carbon abatement as well as having
  an economic development dimension

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Land use in Wales
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What role does this land have for managing the
trade-off...
Footnote photograph has been copied from Flickr
Website www.flickr.com and is used within this
presentation for non-commercial profit as per
sites guidelines. All rights remain with
individual photographers
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What role does this land have for managing the
trade-off...
Footnote photograph has been copied from Flickr
Website www.flickr.com and is used within this
presentation for non-commercial profit as per
sites guidelines. All rights remain with
individual photographers