The economic case for trees Local Government Association Harrogate, 1 st July 2015 Tim Sunderland, Principal Specialist in Economics, Natural England
Image from http://pixabay.com/en/park-london-england-nature-uk-737228/ The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. The Second best time is today. Chinese Proverb
Accountancy Economics vs Costs Benefits Accountancy icon from: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/file:accountancy_template.svg?uselang=en-gb Economics icon from: http://pixabay.com/en/justice-scales-orange-libra-311699/
Benefits provided by trees Carbon Air-Quality Local climate moderation Beauty Sequestration Stopping Erosion Reducing Flooding Wildlife Habitat Soil Quality Picture from http://pixabay.com/en/oak-tree-branches-tall-nature-303884/ Noise Abatement Filtering Water Pollution
Valuing Benefits Prove Quantify Value
Trees and their benefits for Flood Risk Mitigation Moorland Catchments 1 Street Tree 50 62% than forested ones (1) A shelter belt can lead to a 40% in field scale flood peaks (2) Soil permeability 5 8 times In broadleaf woodland than grassland (3) http://pixabay.com/en/flooded-disaster-flooding-flood-491245/ 4 Sites 40 Hectares of trees 1 hour in major flood (4) In storm water run off over 9m area (6) Urban Forests Peak run off (5)
Trees and their benefits for Pollution mitigation Modelling estimates 711,000 tonnes of pollution in US urban areas each year (7) 547 Ha mixed Greenspace Reduces pollution and Urban Forests Ozone Pollution (10) Particulate Matter Accumulation 10 20 fold 2 Deaths & 2 Hospital Admissions each year (8) Picture from http://pixabay.com/en/london-car-taxi-city-uk-england-676785/ Between species: Mountain Pine, Silver Birch, Stephanandra, Skimmia, Grey Willow and Scots Pine the best (9)
Trees and their benefits for Climate Change mitigation 1 LargeTree New Forest River Shading by trees 450 litres of H20 and 1,000 megajoules each day and reduces urban temperatures (11) Urban Parks are 1% than built up Areas (12) Tree Shelterbelt Office heating energy by 3.64 kw per sqm Or 18.1% of total (13) Image from http://tools.decc.gov.uk/nationalheatmap/ water temperatures 5 degrees celsius lower than rivers in open grassland (15) Above ground storage of C in Leicester 231,521 t 97% in
Trees and their benefits for Noise mitigation 1 Tree Belt 3.6 m wide 4.0m high Picture from http://pixabay.com/en/los-angeles-la-usa-america-city-498285/ sound levels by 4 decibels (16)
Trees and their socio-economic benefits Business districts with trees Shoppers will be Travel Further Stay Longer Visit more frequently Pay more (17) Live near Greenery TREES CRIME (19) Picture from http://pixabay.com/en/building-architecture-majorca-spain-500337/
Felix Finkbeiner http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/8476747/the-13-year-old-who-has-the-world-planting-trees.html
Torbay s urban forest 818,000 trees 11% forest cover Most common trees are; Leyland Cypress, Ash and Sycamore Most important by leaf area are; Ash, Sycamore, Beech and Hazel 71% of trees were in private ownership but these are smaller ones Picture from: http://pixabay.com/en/boats-marina-quayside-harbour
Benefits provided by trees Carbon Air-Quality Local climate moderation Beauty Sequestration Stopping Erosion Reducing Flooding Wildlife Habitat Soil Quality http://pixabay.com/en/oak-tree-branches-tall-nature-303884/ Noise Abatement Filtering Water Pollution
Snapshot Results
Proportion of costs justified by air-quality and carbon sequestration benefits alone 37% 1% 46% 209%
Results: air pollution removal
Results: annual carbon sequestration
Proportion of costs justified by air-quality and carbon sequestration benefits alone At Discount Rate of: 3.5% 2.1% 37% 1% 46% 209% 76% 1% 79% 479%
Wangari Maatthai Picture from http://www.greenbeltmovement.org/wangari-maathai/biography
A society prospers when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they will never sit Greek Proverb Image from http://pixabay.com/en/tree-oak-landscape-view-field-402953/
Contact Details and More information Contact Details Tim Sunderland, Principal Specialist in Economics, Natural England E-mail: tim.sunderland@naturalengland.org.uk References MEBIE review gives more detail on all references accept Torbay: http://publications.naturalengland.org.uk/publication/6692039286587 392 Torbay study http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03071375.2012.701416
References (see MEBIE for more details) 1) Archer 2007 2) Jackson, Wheater et al. 2008 3) Archer, Bonell et al. 2013 4) Nisbet and Thomas 2008 5) Xiao, McPherson et al. 1998 6) Armson, Stringer et al. 2013 7) Nowak, Crane et al. 2006 8) Tiwary, Sinnett et al. 2009 9) Saebo, Popek et al. 2012 10) Nowak, Civerolo et al. 2000 11) Bolund and Hunhammar 1999 12) Bowler, Buyung-Ali et al. 2010 13) Liu and Harris 2008 14) Davies, Edmondson et al. 2011 15) Broadmeadow, Jones et al. 2010 16) Fang & Ling, 2005 17) Wolf 2005 18) Herzele and Vries 2012 19) Troy, Grove et al. 2012