“An exciting moment”: the urban and rural trees of England mapped for the first time | Trees and forests
The non -Woodland trees in England were mapped for the first time, using cutting -edge laser detection and satellite images.
The trees of the trees of the Forest Research Agency of the United Kingdom have built a complete picture of the trees in urban and rural areas in an “innovative” map that goes live on Saturday.
The tool will allow the conservation groups and local authorities to affect the planting of trees in a more accurate way by identifying solitary trees that could be connected to the nearby wooded areas, supporting the habitats for wildlife, they said.
The Department of the Environment, Defra, said that this would support the government’s commitment to expand the habitats rich in nature and help to achieve its legally binding objective to increase the Boschi dell’Onerterra woods to 16.5% of the total land surface by 2050.
Forest minister, Mary Creagh, said: “Our precious road trees improve air quality, mark the changing seasons and provide us with peace, shadow and joy. Their value simply cannot be overrated.
“This revolutionary new census of trees will not only help us to better understand our current coverage of the canopy canopy, but it will allow us to identify the areas in which we can create more habitats rich in nature for wildlife and people to enjoy as part of our plan for change.”
Sir William Worsley, the president of the Forestry Commission, said: “This was a real effort by the team-results are spectacular and will be precious for us while we strive to achieve our legal goal to increase the coverage of the plantation of trees.
“The map fills the critical gaps on the data of our national resources, helping us to understand this natural resource and the benefits it offers, including carbon storage. Many people-see citizens to governments will use the map to make decisions based on the evidence to improve the management and protection of our trees”.
Freddie Hunter, the head of remotely Research remoteel, said: “This is an exciting moment. Using the latest technologies, we have been able to identify all the coverage of the trees in England, including trees outside the Woodland for the first time.
“This laser technology measures the earth’s surface using the satellite images, which we can use to capture the coverage of the canopy of the trees form a complete picture in the whole amplitude of the country and will be vital to inform the future plantation of trees”.
Maps show that single trees represent 30% of the coverage of the England tree. They could play an important role in carbon conservation, in the regulation of temperatures and in the mitigation of impacts on climate change, such as floods and overheating in the city, said Defra.
Trees can also help improve health and well -being in urban areas by increasing nature and reducing the impacts of air pollution.
The map, which is fully automated and can be regularly updated to capture changes in the coverage of the canopy of the trees, was financed by the natural evaluation program and evaluation of Defra ecosystems (NCEA).
It works as part of larger government efforts to increase the woods, including recent ads of A new national forestBy increasing the timber in the construction to increase the forest and the construction of sustainable houses and a task force dedicated to the plantation of trees.
