First national conference highlights the global importance of temperate rainforests

The event, hosted at the University, brought together academics, environmentalists and practitioners
UK's first temperate rainforests conference organised by the Sustainable Earth Institute
The key challenges and opportunities facing some of the world’s rarest woodland areas have been highlighted at the first national conference dedicated to temperate rainforests.
Held at the University of Plymouth, the conference featured talks and group discussions by researchers and practitioners based all over the world.
It included a keynote address by Dr Dominick DellaSala, Chief Scientist at Wild Heritage, a project of Earth Island Institute, and former President of the Society for Conservation Biology’s North America Section, who spoke about the work which inspired his award-winning book Temperate and Boreal Rainforests of the World.
Delegates were also given the first look at a model, designed by researchers at the University and soon to be launched by the South West Rainforest Alliance, which aims to identify areas with the greatest potential for rainforest restoration and opportunities to buffer and connect these precious and isolated habitats through targeted rainforest expansion.
Temperate rainforests are typically found in coastal and upland regions, and despite being found all over the world, they make up just 2% of the Earth’s surface. In Britain and Ireland, they are often characterised by the gnarled, wind-battered limbs of oak, hazel and rowan trees, and can be found in western Scotland, north-west England, Wales, and south-west England.
Among the topics discussed during the conference was the threat climate change could pose to the future scale and health of these wooded areas but, conversely, the important role they could play in helping to address it.
Delegates also debated some of the particular challenges facing the South West’s temperate rainforests, including their remoteness and isolation and the difficulties this posed for their expansion and conservation.
And they highlighted the need for more research on this habitat given its importance and implications for global biodiversity, carbon and water-cycling.
The conference was co-ordinated by Lecturer in Environmental Sciences Dr Thomas Murphy , and Lecturer in Ecology Dr James Buckley .
Hosted by the Sustainable Earth Institute , in partnership with the Woodland Trust and the South West Rainforest Alliance, it was supported through the Entrepreneurial Futures project.

How we conserve and restore the world’s temperate rainforests is incredibly important.

Whether it’s the giant redwoods of the north west Pacific, or the gnarled Atlantic oak woods of Britain and Ireland, it is crucial that we protect these environments and the benefits they provide. This conference may have been the first of its kind, but given the importance of temperate rainforests it hopefully won’t be the last. It was a great pleasure to welcome practitioners and academics from across Britain and Ireland and further afield to discuss this key habitat.

Thomas MurphyDr Thomas Murphy
Lecturer in Environmental Sciences

UK's first temperate rainforests conference organised by the Sustainable Earth Institute
UK's first temperate rainforests conference organised by the Sustainable Earth Institute
UK's first temperate rainforests conference organised by the Sustainable Earth Institute
Following the conference, a number of those attending the conference – including Dr DellaSala and academics from the University of Plymouth – visited two temperate rainforests on Dartmoor, in collaboration with the British Lichen Society.
This included a visit to the Wistman’s Wood National Nature Reserve, and involved discussions about the threats, challenges and balances of conservation at small, highly fragmented woodlands in heavily human modified landscapes.
UK's first temperate rainforests conference organised by the Sustainable Earth Institute
UK's first temperate rainforests conference organised by the Sustainable Earth Institute
UK's first temperate rainforests conference organised by the Sustainable Earth Institute

Temperate rainforests are often thought of forgotten forests.

But the future uncertainty posed by our changing climate means they have an important role to play in the restoration and expansion of critical ecosystems and biodiversity. This conference has demonstrated there is a vibrant community driving this forward, and I hope the ideas it has shared – and discussions it has sparked – will ensure temperate rainforests regionally and globally develop and thrive in the years to come.

Will BlakeProfessor Will Blake
Director of the Sustainable Earth Institute

 

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