Professor Roland Ennos, describes how the focus of this gap-fill research work undertaken in association with the Trees and Design Action Group (TDAG) and supported by Fund4Trees identifies the current state of knowledge of three key physical areas which can be influenced by the presence of trees. The research also highlights areas where more research could be beneficial. The target audience for this research paper are those involved in policy, management/protection, design and delivery of urban trees.
“We have focused on three key areas:
- Carbon storage and sequestration: this has been researched and written up in the agreed format.
- Cooling: this has been researched and split up into 3 separate benefits: local cooling of people; local cooling of buildings; and regional cooling and urban heat island reduction. We’ve finished all the text for this and just need a few diagrams and references.
- Flooding: work has been begun in this area.
The other major issue to consider is reduction of pollution but this would require specific expertise in this area to investigate. As far as noise reduction is concerned, this is not something trees are actually good at, and reduction in wind is far too difficult to quantify. We propose to approach Landscape and Urban Planning about publishing our reviews.”
Martin Kelly, TDAG Chair and Land Planning Director at Capita Property and Infrastructure, commented that “this is a very important step for urban trees. As practitioners it is vital that we work with evidence based research in order to make appropriate long-term decisions which are what is required if we are to have an effective well-distributed urban forest for the future benefit of our towns and cities. TDAG thanks both Fund4Trees for financial support and Professor Ennos and Dr Asrafur Rahman for their expertise in making this important piece of work possible."
