Britain could tackle its jobs crisis and unlock future growth by employing people to plant trees, a report suggests.
The government should set up a National Conservation Corps to help meet its target of planting 30,000 hectares of woodland each year, the Bennett Institute for Public Policy at Cambridge University said.
It would help the government to meet its climate targets, create jobs for those who have lost them during the pandemic and help to reduce the number of people falling into long-term unemployment, the report says.
A similar scheme was launched by Franklin Roosevelt during the Great Depression in America. Shortly after taking office in 1933, the US president established a Civilian Conservation Corps to provide work for jobless young men. Three billion trees were planted and 800 parks created over the nine years of the programme.
The Conservative manifesto pledged to increase tree planting to 74,000 acres a year by 2025 but the government has struggled to make significant inroads.
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Some 33,260 acres of trees were planted in the year to the end of March, compared with 33,458 acres the year before, with more than 81 per cent of last year’s total in Scotland.
In England, tree planting rose from 3,509 to 5,758 acres but remains below the rate needed to reach the target.
However, the government has received a boost from the Woodland Trust which plans to plant 50 million trees over the next five years, doubling its annual rate of planting. The Forestry Commission is also funding a £50 million incentive scheme for landowners who plant trees.
The Bennett Institute said that it was critical for the government to support the economic recovery by investing in natural and social assets, and physical instructure. It noted that access to green spaces and clean air can increase the health and happiness of the workforce and enhance the value of homes. This, along with investing in intangible social assets, such as community cohesion and trust, could help to boost Britain’s productivity in the long term.
It said that holes in economic statistics had contributed to chronic underinvestment in assets such as natural and social capital. “As clean air, public green space, or social relationships are not traded in shops and stock exchanges, these assets do not have a market price and so are not counted in economic statistics. This makes them invisible in policy choices,” the report said.
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While woodland cover in the UK has doubled over the past 100 years to 13 per cent, compared with 5 per cent in 1919, the UK is behind the EU average of 38 per cent. The figure also masks the fact that only 10 per cent of England has trees, while Scotland has 19 per cent, Wales 15 per cent and Northern Ireland 8 per cent.
Pushpam Kumar, chief environmental economist and senior economic advisor at the United Nations Environment Programme, said that countries needed to think about “natural capital” as they emerged from the recession.
He said: “Just like Roosevelt’s New Deal to overcome the recession of the 1930s, the world economy needs to build an economy around inclusive wealth which recognises the role of natural capital . . . As shown by various scientific assessment and estimates, natural capital is in decline.”
Matthew Agarwala, an economist and author of the report, said: “Mutually reinforcing investments in social cohesion, health, skills, the environment, and strong communities are crucial for delivering growth, productivity, and wellbeing in the UK’s towns and cities. Measuring and maintaining what really matters is the first step toward a resilient economic recovery.
“A temporary rise in the government debt/GDP ratio should not prevent investment. In periods of high uncertainty, low confidence, and unemployed economic resources, public investments in the natural environment and local community programmes offer attractive economic returns.”
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Johnson gives £40m more to create conservation roles
Boris Johnson has pledged an extra £40 million for green spaces and conservation jobs in England (Billy Kenber writes).
The government said that the money would help environmental charities to combat climate change and restore biodiversity and would create thousands of jobs.
Money will be given to projects seeking to restore damaged wildlife habitats, clean up pollution, plant new woodland, and restore peatland and wetlands.
The prime minister said that the scheme was part of his ten-point plan for a “green industrial revolution” which will be announced this week.
“As we build back greener we’re taking new steps to expand and enhance our landscapes, creating and retaining thousands of green jobs in the process which will be crucial to my ten-point plan for delivering a green recovery,” he said. “Britain’s iconic landscapes are part of the fabric of our national identity, sustaining our communities, driving local economies and inspiring people across the ages.”
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He said that “with the natural world under threat, it’s more important than ever that we act now to enhance our natural environment and protect our precious wildlife and biodiversity”. The government said that the additional money for the Green Recovery Challenge Fund would create and retain skilled and unskilled jobs for ecologists, tree planters and others working in nature restoration.
Officials plan to start the process for designating new national parks and areas of outstanding national beauty next year as part of plans to protect an additional 150,000 hectares of land. Ten long-term landscape recovery projects will follow between 2022 and 2024.
Craig Bennett, chief executive of the Wildlife Trusts, welcomed the money but said far more was needed. “Investment in nature is crucial if we want to build a stronger, greener economy,” he said. “The government’s initial Green Recovery Challenge Fund was oversubscribed by almost ten times, so additional funding to help tackle the nature and climate crisis is welcome.
“However, with nearly half of all species in decline in the UK, the government must realise the colossal scale of the task and listen to calls for an additional £1 billion investment per annum, year on year, as part of the upcoming comprehensive spending review. This is desperately needed to kick-start a decade of action for nature.”
