Trees and their Importance
Climate change, being environmentally friendly, thinking carefully about our carbon footprint is at the forefront of our minds, but for many years, across the continents, there have been concerns about the way in which trees are treated.
Trees act as a filter, trapping dust and absorbing pollutants from the air and each individual tree removes up to 1.7 kilos every year. They are also an excellent form of noise reduction and provide shade from solar radiation.
Research has shown that trees absorb carbon dioxide as they grow and the carbon that they store in their wood helps slow the rate of global warming. They reduce wind speeds and cool the air as they lose moisture and reflect heat upwards from their leaves. It’s estimated that trees can reduce the temperature in a city by up to 7°C.
Tree Preservation Orders were introduced so that local planning authorities could protect specific trees, groups of trees or woodlands.
COP 26 starts in Glasgow
What is Cop 26 ?
The Cop, or conference of the parties, is the overall decision-making body of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. This is its 26th annual meeting, where decisions are made by 197 countries to prevent “dangerous” human interference with the climate.
The conference officially started on Sunday 31st October 2021 and is scheduled to finish on November 12.
The conference will be held at the Scottish Event Campus in Glasgow.
In 2019, Glasgow city council set their target of becoming a carbon neutral city by 2030. The city was awarded the status of a “global green city” by the Global Forum on Human Settlements last year.
Adopted at Cop21 in 2015, the most significant conference in recent years, the Paris agreement is a legally binding treaty on climate change in which countries are supposed to increase their efforts every five years and submit new targets to keep global temperatures “well below” 2.0C above pre-industrial levels and “endeavour to limit” heating to 1.5C.
With leaders and dignitaries from almost 200 countries attending, Cop26 is effectively acting as a deadline to secure tougher targets from countries that have not already submitted them and fulfil the aims of the Paris agreement.
Trees and their Importance to the Environment
What is a Tree Preservation Order?
A Tree Preservation Order is an order made by a local planning authority in England to protect specific trees, groups of trees or woodlands in the interests of amenity. An Order prohibits the:
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cutting down
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topping
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lopping
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uprooting
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wilful damage
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wilful destruction
of trees without the local planning authority’s written consent. If consent is given, it can be subject to conditions which have to be followed. In the Secretary of State’s view, cutting roots is also a prohibited activity and requires the authority’s consent.
What are a tree owner’s responsibilities?
Owners of protected trees must not carry out, or cause or permit the carrying out of, any of the prohibited activities without the written consent of the local authority. As with owners of unprotected trees, they are responsible for maintaining their trees, with no statutory rules setting out how often or to what standard. The local planning authority cannot require maintenance work to be done to a tree just because it is protected. However, the authority can encourage good tree management, particularly when determining applications for consent under a Tree Preservation Order. This will help to maintain and enhance the amenity provided by protected trees.