Environmental issues often seem to take place far away but they are in fact all around us. It may be easy to assume that every dead tree you see in your local park was struck by lightning but often, it is not this simple.
Britain’s native trees face widespread disease. Ash dieback, for example, is a fungus which is estimated wto kill 95% of our 150-200 million ash trees. This will change our landscape forever, threaten many ash-dependent species and potentially cost the UK £15 billion. Britains beloved oak is also threatened by disease and an invasive moth species which combined could lead to ecological devastation.
Tree diseases have admittedly been around for decades. Dutch elm disease, for example, destroyed Britain’s elm population in the 1970s and is currently spreading North. Further invasive non-native species such as the zig zag sawfly pose serious damage to elm-trees in the south, defoliating them, causing trees to become more susceptible to drought and pests.Many young people have never even seen an elm tree.
These diseases have accelerated recently due to changing precipitation patterns bringing new pests, and increased globalisation leading to more disease spread via sapling imports and travellers. Prolonged periods of drought and waterlogging also exacerbate the problem, and with meteorological depressions predicted to become 20 percent more common due to global heating, our trees will continue to suffer.
It’s not all doom and gloom though. You can help!
Wash your shoes and car and bike wheels after visiting the woods
If you plant trees, buy British-grown ones
Donate to The Woodland Trust and Action Oak who fund research and management
Learn symptoms and report with Tree Alert
NEVER bring plants, seeds, flowers, fruit or vegetables home from abroad
Written by Lilly Horvath-Makkos and John Mulford
Artwork by Isabel
Comentarios