The UK Treescapes programme is an exciting initiative that seeks to enhance our understanding of how UK landscapes filled with trees—or "treescapes"—benefit the environment, economy, and society. This programme is particularly focused on shaping the future of these treescapes, ensuring they benefit the environment and can be enjoyed by everyone.
Funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), The Future of UK Treescapes is a programme which aims to significantly improve the environmental, socio-economic and cultural understanding of the functions and services provided by UK treescapes. Treescapes exist all over the UK in our urban cities, towns and rural areas.
The programme aims to inform decision-making on the expansion and resilience of future treescapes for the benefits of the environment and society. By widening the conversation about UK treescapes to the public, it aims to ensure that policy is informed by the aspirations and needs of the communities they impact. The programme has committed to a set of public dialogues on the future of treescapes in the UK, to support decision-makers to be better informed about public values and the acceptability of change to their treescapes.
OUR INVOLVEMENT
Involve is working with the Future of UK Treescapes’ Ambassador team to deliver a public dialogue with 48 people from communities across the UK. Between September - December 2024, participants will take part in a mix of place-based, in-person community dialogues, and online whole-group dialogues, in four locations across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Participants will be taken through a structured process to deliver a national vision for Treescapes and a set of place based principles that can inform future decision making.
The dialogues will engage a wide cross section of the public to explore challenges, benefits and opportunities around treescape expansion, to develop a nuanced understanding of public acceptability within the context of current research and land use challenges.
The outcomes of the dialogue will help inform policy and its implementation, aiming to ensure that competing values and uses are made visible; conditions of support and acceptability are clear; new ideas and insights are surfaced; and the impacts of actions are explored and understood, especially where treescapes may intersect with existing structures of inequality. The overarching question that participants will be working to answer is:
What is your vision for the future of trees, woodland, and forests in the UK over the next 50 years? How can we make sure our trees meet the needs of individuals, society and the natural world?
Following our previous projects such as Citizens’ Assembly UK, the People's Assembly for Nature, the Rethinking Water Citizens’ Juries and our work on the Riverwoods project, the Future of UK Treescapes dialogues are another example of how people from all walks of life can be included in helping to shape the future of our environment. We’re proud to be partnering with the Future of UK Treescapes to deliver this important and timely project.
WHAT’S NEXT
Recruitment
Involve will lead on this project working with the Sortition Foundation, who will recruit a diverse and broad cross-section of the public. Participant recruitment for the Future of UK Treescapes will run from July - September 2024.
In-Person and Online Place Based Dialogues
The dialogues taking place will be a mix of place-based and online sessions.
The first set of sessions will take place in-person at the place-based locations in September 2024. These sessions will enable participants to connect to their local treescapes, learn about some of the opportunities and challenges in their areas and start to develop ideas of what they would like to see change.
The second session will bring all participants together for an online meeting in October 2024. This session will primarily focus on learning and information sharing about some of the national opportunities and challenges for the future of UK treescapes. Participants will begin to develop their ideas for a national vision for the future of treescapes.
The third set of sessions are back in the place-based locations and will take place in November 2024. These sessions will focus on a deep dive into place-based principles and calls to action for the future of treescapes in each local area.
The fourth and final session will take place online again, bringing together all participants and interested parties from across the place-based locations. Participants will share their final national vision and place-based principles and calls to action with each other and key interested parties. This final session will take place in December 2024.
Reporting
A full written report, including methodology, delivery information, and key learning points, will be published by the end of February 2025. It will provide clear and accessible outputs for use by both policymakers and the public.
Policy Workshop
In addition, we’ll also be holding a policy workshop at the end of March 2025, where we’ll share the most relevant and impactful findings for any future policy development.
We will update this page periodically with information on project progression.
FURTHER INFORMATION
If you are interested in finding out more about the project, please contact Chloe Ter-Berg at [email protected].
You can also find more information on the The Future of UK Treescapes website here