Trees for Climate Change, Biodiversity, and People Agenda
Find out about our exciting line up of talks, posters, and social events!

The Trees for Climate Change, Biodiversity and People symposium is a 2 day event featuring a series of talks, posters and social events which aim to connect practioners, academics and policy makers working to protect and restore our treescapes.
Registration is still open to join us in Canterbury from the 28-29 June.
Oral Presentations
Wednesday 28 June
09.45 - 10.30 | Welcome Plenary | Forrest Fleischman, University of Minnesota | |
10.30 - 15.00 | Culture, heritage and history of trees | ||
10.30 - 11.00 | Revealing the cultural histories of Scottish wooded landscapes: for restoration and engaging communities. | Coralie Mills, Dendrochronicle and Honorary Research Fellow at the University of St Andrews | |
11.30 - 12.00 | Using documentary film, meteorological data and historical records to understand the socio-ecological impacts of tree loss in Kano city. | Aliyu Salisu Barau, Bayero University, Kano | |
12.00 - 12.30 | The diversity of people’s relationships with biodiversity should inform woodland creation and restoration. | Zoe Davies, DICE, University of Kent | |
12.30 - 12.40 | Building cultural significance and connection through a national network of urban Tiny Forests – lessons learnt through engagement and citizen science. | Daniel Hayhow, Earthwatch Europe | |
12.40 - 12.50 | Restoration of ‘lost’ tree species: assessing cultural significance of and management options for elm species. | Fritha West, University of St Andrews and Centre for Forest Protection | |
13.50 - 14.00 | NWO: Deconstructing the apparent ‘New Woodland Order’ – a culture of polarisation between scientists, foresters and conservationists. | Chris Nichols, Woodland Trust | |
14.00 - 14.10 | Aesthetics of urban treescapes as a way to people’s better wellbeing. | Tarja Rannisto, Natural England, University of Sheffield | |
14.10 - 14.20 | Trees, Carbon and the Psychology of Landscapes. | Lindsey Gillson, Plant Conservation Unit, University of Cape Town, South Africa | |
14.20 - 14.30 | Creating a Legacy - a network of Tiny Forests and the Commonwealth Games Forests. | Adrienne Bennett, Severn Trent | |
14.30 - 15.00 | Panel discussion | ||
15.30 - 17.10 | Tree Health (part 1) | ||
15.30 - 16.00 | State of the UK's Tree Health: What can citizen science tell us? | Rebecca Gosling, Woodland Trust | |
16.00 - 16.30 | The role of social science and humanities in understanding tree health and biosecurity: identifying issues and developing solutions. | Julie Urquhart, Countryside & Community Research Institute, Uni of Gloucestershire | |
16.30 - 16.40 | Consequences of climate matching for oak resistance to herbivory. | Juri Alexander Felix, Royal Holloway University of London, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew | |
16.40 - 16.50 | Predicting forest damage using relative abundance of multiple deer species and national forest inventory data. | Colin Brock, University College Dublin (UCD) | |
16.50 - 17.10 | Panel discussion | ||
17.10 - 18.30 | Poster session |
Thursday 29 June
09.30 - 11.00 | Tree Health (part 2) | ||
09.30 - 10.00 | Tree health and biosecurity: when communication is the weakest ring. | Lucio Montecchio, University of Padova | |
10.00 - 10.10 | Integrating Epidemiology and Stakeholder behaviour in ash treescapes. | Vasthi Alonzo Chavez, Rothamsted Research | |
10.10 - 10.20 | How resilient are our native woodlands to multiple pests and pathogens? | Ruth Mitchell, The James Hutton Institute | |
10.20 - 10.30 | Collaboratively designing and delivering a new policy initiative to enable land managers to respond to tree health threats. | Harry Marshall, Forest Research | |
10.30 - 10.40 | What happens to ecosystems when trees die? A story of ash dieback. | Cecilia Dahlsjö, University of Oxford | |
10.40 - 11.00 | Panel Discussion | ||
11.30 - 15.30 | 30 x 30 & landscape restoration | ||
11.30 - 12.00 | Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework – what’s in it for trees? | Andy Stott, Independent (formerly Defra) | |
12.00 - 12.30 | tbc | tbc | |
12.30 - 13.00 | Economic incentives for woodland creation and their impacts on biodiversity. | Nick Hanley, University of Glasgow | |
14.00 - 14.10 | Assessing the use of natural colonisation to create new forests within temperate agriculturally dominated landscapes. | Matt Guy, Forest Research | |
14.10 - 14.20 | The sound of restoration: How site and landscape factors affect soundscape complexity in restored woodland. | Ross Barnett, University of Stirling | |
14.20 - 14.30 | Scenarios of treescape expansion for a net-zero land sector: how achievable are top-down scenarios at a local scale? | Melissa Minter, RSPB | |
14.30 - 14.40 | Operationalising functional connectivity to target and measure nature recovery at landscape scales. | Ewan Mchenry, Woodland Trust | |
14.40 - 14.50 | Delivering on conservation, restoration and poverty alleviation goals in Indonesia’s community forests. | Matthew Struebig, DICE, University of Kent | |
14.50 - 15.00 | Growing the Future: how the nation's forests will meet society's challenges. | Eleanor Tew, Forestry England | |
15.00 - 15.30 | Panel discussion | ||
16.00 - 16.20 | Youth Plenary | Laura Kravac and Dom McWilliams, Action for Conservation | |
16.20 - 16.50 | Closing remarks | Yadvinder Malhi, University of Oxford |
Poster presentations

In addition to our line up of speakers there will be posters on display throughout the event with a dedicated poster session on Wednesday 28 June.
AER Live: Nature positive economy
Join us for a free, online workshop exploring the concept of a nature positive economy ahead of the symposium – 15 June, 13:00
Following momentum around COP15, the idea of a ‘nature positive economy’ is fast gaining traction among businesses, policymakers and NGOs, but what does it really mean? This workshop will explore the concept of a nature positive economy, and how we might best apply ecological science to influence robust policy and business practice, to help shape an economy that protects and helps restore nature.
This workshop is led by Woodland Trust, AER Silver Member – discover Woodland Trust’s reports, reviews and other publications on Applied Ecology Resources.
Social events

Right of Way screening + Q&A
19:00, Tuesday 27 June
Gulbenkian arts centre
Right of Way is a new feature-length programme that mixes stunning new artists’ commissions with historical archive films that give a bigger picture of questions of access and inclusion in the UK countryside. The event is free, but please register to guarantee a place.

Woodland Wake-up Walk
08.00, Thursday 29 June
Meet underneath the Treaty Canoe in the Keynes main foyer
Begin day two with a one-hour gentle guided walk around campus. Local academic, William Rowlandson, will lead the way, introducing you to the local trees and talking about their history.
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