Tree planting: What our ecological past tells us about ‘restoring’ lands

Communities and governments around the world have recognised the scale of environmental damage caused to ecosystems by human behaviour. Calls for climate action have resulted in government policies to try to mitigate the worst impacts and halt, or even reverse, the damage that has been caused.

Targets are set. The number of trees to be planted are specified, as is the acreage of peat bogs to be restored. These are noble aims, and positive actions are being taken by local and regional groups to implement change to meet these targets, supported through grant schemes and funds to promote environmental benefit. Private sector finance has entered this arena, particularly in the area of carbon trading.

These interventions are well intentioned. After all, who would argue against restoration of environments back to their former condition for global environmental benefit? There is a problem, though. Restoration implies recovering something to its past state. Furniture restorers can recreate the deep shine on a Chippendale sideboard. It’s a static object. Ecosystems, however, are not. They are dynamic, a complicated set of changing social, cultural, economic and environmental conditions that have come together to produce what we see today.

We are the first generation to have a clear understanding of both past environmental changes, and the current and future threats being posed to our ecosystems. As such, we are in a position to make informed choices.

The biggest mistake would be to view landscapes as a blank canvas waiting to be painted with good intentions. To ignore local understanding of conditions, challenges and the voices of the current and past custodians of the land risks unintended and unforeseen consequences in a complex system.

In the south-west, our western Atlantic woodlands are full of biodiversity – they store carbon and prevent flash flooding. But they are the product of centuries of management. Simply planting millions of new trees isn’t enough to reproduce these benefits, particularly in areas that haven’t supported trees for millennia.

Our historical information also tells us about nature recovery in the past. During the Black Death in the mid-14th century, up to half the population of Europe died. This will have had a major impact on food production systems; pressures on the land will have eased considerably.

Even earlier in the Bronze Age, settlement and field systems expanded into marginal uplands, but only for a few hundred years. Around 500 years later these fields were no longer in use, although low-intensity seasonal grazing likely continued.

By looking to these past events, we discover new environmental conditions that formed as nature recovered. We also find much of our high-value nature is a product of land management.

Conservation and climate action should never be about returning the landscape back to a point in time. Society has moved on and our land use and socio-economic demands have moved too far. However, being able to recognise long-term processes is massively important – and given we have that evidence at our disposal, it would be foolish to ignore it.

To read more about Ralph’s work, visit www.plymouth.ac.uk/plymouth-pioneers