Hedgerows are a huge part of the cultural agricultural landscapes in the UK and they have been widely shown to provide crucial resources and shelter for all kinds of above-ground biodiversity, ranging from wildflowers to pollinators, birds, and mammals. More recently, there has been a growing interest in their provision of other benefits, such as protection of surface water quality, flood and drought risk mitigation, and climate change mitigation.
In the UK, the Climate Change Committee has called for a 40% increase in hedgerow length by 2050, with an interim goal of a 20% increase by 2035. In England’s arable and improved grassland landscapes alone, this increment would equate to planting 193,000 km of hedgerows (half the length of the British road system!) in less than three decades. DEFRA has recently announced a planting goal of 120,700 km (75000 miles) by 2050. With existing and new incentives starting, including a Hedgerow Standard in the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), which are promoting hedgerow planting and change the management of existing hedgerows, there is an opportunity and urgent need to provide advice to farmers on how to best manage their hedgerows for the provision of these multiple ecosystem services.
In occasion of the National Hedgerow Week, the University of Leeds and the Tree Council are hosting a one-day in person event titled “Hedgerow management for the delivery of multiple ecosystem services”. This event will take place on the 10th of May at the University of Leeds Research Farm.
We will host a presentation session which you will be able to join online, where we will present the latest hedgerow research conducted at the University of Leeds, University of Reading, and Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH). There will be three presentations of 15 minutes each, followed by a 15 minute Q&A session.
Негізгі бет Hedgerow management for the delivery of multiple ecosystem services
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