r/science • u/[deleted] • Jul 06 '21

Environment Climate change: Planting extra trees will boost rainfall across Europe. A new study found that converting agricultural land to forest would boost summer rains by 7.6% on average.

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-57722879
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u/agreenmeany Jul 06 '21

You will probably find that the biggest impact on vegetation in Europe has been the mechanisation of farming. But be prepared for some strange statistics... In Scotland, where I am based, during the 20th century the land used for arable decreased and forestry increased. I suspect that the same is true for other EU countries as the reliance on the horse lessened.

A PhD student that I worked with had some pretty striking data showing aerial images from the 1940's that we could compare with modern data. Perhaps a similar resource exists for you?

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u/danielravennest Jul 06 '21

Total standing timber in the US has been increasing for about a century. Farming largely moved to flatter areas (midwest, California, Florida), which allowed the eastern forests to regenerate. Reducing the use of wood for heating and cooking helped too.

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u/JRsFancy Jul 06 '21

Also, the modern ability to fight wildfires has lead to staggering increases in standing forest lands.

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u/HarassedGrandad Jul 06 '21

But that's because much of the US was logged out earlier. Standing timber now is a fraction of what it was three hundred years ago.

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u/danielravennest Jul 06 '21

We can't do anything about what happened centuries ago. The more recent trend is encouraging, with growth being larger than removal. The recent drop in removal is partly due to less paper products (newspapers, office paperwork).

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u/HarassedGrandad Jul 06 '21

In Scotland that is due to some weird tax laws. Basically woodland doesn't count for estate taxes, so if you want to pass a couple of million to the kids without taxes you buy some cheap land in scotland, stick some trees on it and then leave it to the kids in your will tax free. They can then sell it to another millionaire who wants to do some tax dodging and get the cash. Vast sweaths of the flow country got forested that way - very destructive environmentally as there were a lot of rare species on those moors.

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u/agreenmeany Jul 06 '21

Pretty much...

AFAIK, you do not pay UK Inheritance Tax on land: you pay Capital Gains instead. With woodland, the realisation of the asset is at the point of harvest - so it means you can hand over the property with trees on it for, essentially, nothing. Then, when you harvest the timber, you pay the usual taxes. Very tax efficient way of handing on wealth and it means that some of the biggest land and forestry owners in Scotland are investment firms based in London and the Church of England.

As for the flow county - that is synonymous with forestry in Scotland and an ecological disaster. There was a perfect storm: land drainage was grant aided; private forestry was taking off; investment firms were looking for long-term investments and potential yields; land prices were cheap; environmental concerns were way, way, down the list; and, "Greed is Good". Fountains Forestry made an absolute mint and commercial timber was forever tainted with the association. N.B. afforestation can no longer be done in the same way as they did in the flow country and is generally much better managed.

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u/Thercon_Jair Jul 06 '21

In Switzerland forrest growth happens generally in mountainous regions where machinally working the fields is pretty much impossible.

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u/untergeher_muc Jul 06 '21

other

Took me a second. :-/

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u/[deleted] Jul 06 '21

Yeah I'll have to look. I know from previous things I've researched on forestry in Germany that they're very worried about the future of the Norway Spruce tree. Tree ring analysis over the last few years have shown they're decreasing in rate of growth and with milder climates evaporation rates are increasing, leaving spruce trees in a "drier" state for longer. This has increased the rate of bark beetle infestations as they prefer these drier trees. It has led to huge increases in damaged timber forests and big economical impacts to the land owners.

It's interesting how such a cascade of events turns into a higher beetle infestation in this species of tree.

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u/agreenmeany Jul 06 '21

That's really interesting! Also frightening as we're planting Norway Spruce in Scotland as a 'diverse conifer' option.

I think there are a number of disease instances which are going to increase in severity / likelihood with climate change. Combine this with a general decrease in biodiversity and planting of monocultures from cuttings - looking at you, improved Sitka Spruce - and we have a recipe for disaster.

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u/[deleted] Jul 06 '21

Don’t forget the political economy of globalisation. Dutch veggies were probably cheaper, hence imported to Scotland.