When Kevin Martin was a child, he spent days under the canopy of the Hampshire woods while his father, a tree surgeon, climbed the heights of oak and ash above him.
Twenty years later, with a degree and a master’s degree, Martin was responsible for caring for 14,000 trees at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew. With trees at the forefront of Britain’s strategies to reach net zero by 2050, Martin and others like him are key front-line professionals in the fight to mitigate the effects of climate change and adapt to changing conditions.
But the army of tree experts needed to fulfill the government’s promise to increase tree planting to 30,000 hectares a year (90-120 million trees) by the end of 2024 is not visible. The lack of skills in carpentry and forestry is at critical levels and no new generation is being hired to take over the aging workforce. A report by the Institute of Chartered Foresters says the industry needs to hire 70% more people to meet the planting targets set by the government and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (IPCC)
“We need to run a big campaign using social media, public billboards, television to start recruiting to fill this skills gap,” Martin said. “It has to come from the industry, but it also has to be considered in education, when children start to choose what subjects to be interested in. We need to change the culture of education, which is largely that you only enter land-based industries if you are obese – which is absolutely not the case. Everyone has to be involved. ”
There is a degree of soul search within the industry to understand why young people do not reach the profession. According to John Healy, a professor of forestry at Bangor University, there is a need to address outdated stereotypes about male “loggers” as well as diversity issues. “There is a shortage of young men who want to enter the profession, but this is even more acute among young women.”
It was in Bangor in 1916 that Mary Sutherland became the first woman in the world to graduate in forestry, he said, making the university even more aware of the need to attract women.
“It was an extraordinary career that many women have started since then, but the profession obviously still suffers from the macho image of a lumberjack cutting down trees, while it’s all about the ecological ethos of expanding forests, biodiversity and green spaces. We spend a lot of time announcing this, but not enough is being registered. “
The Climate Change Commission, a government advisory body, has set a target of 30,000 hectares per year of forests and forests by 2024 in its net zero report. The CCC says increasing forest cover to “at least 17% of the UK’s land area”, together with improved forest management, will emit an additional 14 million tonnes of CO2 each year.
But the workforce for growing, planting and caring for these trees is in short supply in both forestry and carpentry, which includes caring for trees, ranging from caring for urban trees to working nurseries to produce new saplings. John Parker, CEO of the Carpentry Association, said: “The problem is that people don’t know what carpentry is. Students don’t say, “When I grow up, I want to be a carpenter.” We need to change that. “
He said the government needs to tackle labor shortages. “Trees are so high on the political agenda right now, but if we want all these beautiful trees to do all these wonderful things for us, we need to have tree professionals working on them. There is no point in planting millions and millions of trees if you do not take care of them.
“We also have to produce the trees first. We do not have enough trees to fulfill the promises of planting that are being made. It takes time to produce trees the size we need, it has to start years before they are needed. ”
Many of the next generation of tree experts will come from places like Myerscough College in Lancashire, which offers undergraduate as well as bachelor’s and postgraduate degrees in carpentry, tree management and urban forestry. But the number of students remains stable, with no signs of the increases that will be needed to fill the skills gap. Alex McKelvey, Head of Green Spaces and Creative Research, said: “There is a struggle to teach young people about the industry and to hire and retain them. So we lack a skilled workforce at a critical time. “
The college is working hard to attract young women to the profession, he said. “There is nothing in this profession that a girl cannot do, not a boy; in fact, girls are making phenomenal tree climbers and the industry is working hard to attract more young women. ”
The industry seeks to hire future experts not only among graduates. Healy said there is a noticeable increase in mature students joining the Bangor Master of Forestry program. “The students are much older,” he said. “Some have been in other careers – for example working in the City of London – and they want to do something completely different,” he said.
The attractions of the tree quarry, Healy believes, are numerous. “Work really matters,” he said. “It is satisfying to do work that makes an important difference to the world in terms of the biodiversity crisis and climate change.
“Choosing this career means that you are in the midst of an intriguing and exciting challenge. There are no easy solutions, there is a practical challenge and there is intellectual stimulation to decide how to do it right. ”
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