Future Treescapes Conference 2024

The Future Treescapes 24 conference took place on 11-13 June 2024 at the Glasgow University Union. It was the final conference for the four year Future of UK Treescapes collaboration between the University of Gloucestershire, Imperial College London, Countryside and Community Research Institute, AHRC, ESRC, NERC, Defra, Forestry Commission, and the Scottish and Welsh governments.

The collaboration aimed to understand the form and function of treescapes in the UK, collate evidence for the expansion of treescapes and research the future of UK treescape resilience. Another key aim was to commission public dialogues to understand what multiple publics wants from treescapes in the UK, including a substantial interaction with local school children.

Kevin Donkers, a PhD student at the University of Exeter, attended the conference on behalf of NetZeroPlus. His attendance was primarily aimed at learning from and networking with researchers working on the UK treescapes Programme. His particular interest is in expanding agroforestry in the UK, the subject of his research. There were a number of sessions on agroforestry, including farmer attitudes on agroforestry, agroforestry policy (particularly in the context of a changing subsidy landscape), and an open forum on the barriers to adoption. Amongst the attendees he found a number of researchers willing to share their agroforestry field data, as well as links to projects collating agroforestry site data and modelling tools.

Reports, policy notes and journal special issues from the Future of UK Treescapes will be published in late 2024 and early 2025.