Workstream #4 - Climate Change Adaptation and Carbon Sequestration
Introduction
Adaptation to climate change requires changes to the way in which the city’s infrastructure is developed and how we manage issues such as flooding and extreme heat. Manchester has approximately 1.2 million trees and a tree coverage of over 20% which is one of the highest in Greater Manchester. In the last three years alone over 10,500 trees have been planted as well as nearly 3,000 hedge trees and 13 community orchards (bringing the total up to 48). The Manchester i-trees eco assessment undertaken in 2018 by Treeconomics found that Manchester’s existing tree coverage stores 124,330 tonnes of carbon, sequesters 4,980 tonnes of carbon every year and removes 84 tonnes of pollution. The financial benefits of trees are worth over £3million every year. Improving the quality and quantity of trees and hedgerows will increase the volume of carbon that can be stored and ultimately sequestrated whilst also improving the environment and helping to reduce flooding.
Commitment
Ensure that the city’s infrastructure is resilient to climate change and that nature-based solutions are used to combat issues such as flooding. Develop an intelligence led approach to tree and hedge planting, and nature-based solutions will be developed to support the delivery of the Green and Blue Infrastructure Strategy. The quality and quantity of trees and hedges both on Council owned land and across the city will be informed by a Tree Opportunity Mapping assessment which will use the i-Trees Eco Assessment work to identify appropriate locations for additional tree planting to take place. It will link tree planting opportunities with locations that would benefit from increased climate change resilience. The assessment will suggest appropriate tree species and support funding bids to facilitate the delivery of both tree planting and ongoing maintenance.
Actions
This workstream's actions are split between Actions for the Council and Actions for the city