British woodlands and trees will benefit from new research aimed at boosting protection against pests and diseases.
Our plants and trees are estimated to contribute £4.1 billion per year to the UK’s economy – their vast canopies are teeming with birds and insects, they help mitigate the impact of flooding for communities across the country, trees outside woodland in towns as well as rural areas are cherished by the British people.
But our trees are vulnerable, with plant pests and diseases posing a significant threat to nature and the economy.
The threat from pests and diseases is growing due to factors like climate change, and it is increasingly important to plant resilient trees that can withstand warmer temperatures so people and nature can enjoy the widespread benefits they bring.
Seventeen new research projects will improve tree health and resilience through the Centre for Forest Protection – a collaboration between Forest Research and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew – as part of the Government’s Plan for Change.
These will help plant and protect treescapes that are resilient to stresses including climate change and pests and diseases such as ash dieback, which has been estimated to kill over 100 million trees in the UK and cost the economy up to £15 billion to Great Britain over the coming decades.
The £4 million of funding will include projects to facilitate future tree breeding for resilience to ash dieback and a fungal disease affecting Scots pine, and new technologies so trees can flower at a younger age to accelerate breeding programmes.
Professor Nicola Spence, Defra’s Chief Plant Health Officer, said: “Tackling the growing threat from plant pests and diseases due to climate change is critical to protect the long-term health and resilience of our trees.
“Expanding our research efforts and work to restore native ash trees are an important step in the fight against diseases which devastate our nations woodlands, protecting trees for the benefits they bring to our climate and for people’s enjoyment.”
Dr Louise Gathercole, Centre for Forest Protection Coordinator, said: “At Forest Research and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, we are delighted to continue our collaboration under the Centre for Forest Protection.
“Funding this virtual centre gives us the opportunity to leverage the expertise and resources of both organisations, along with a wide range of other collaborators, to carry out innovative science and produce the evidence needed for future woodland resilience.”
Projects for 2025/26 include:
- Dodging the double whammy, looking into whether trees resilient to ash dieback can also help avoid damage from Emerald Ash Borer, an exotic emerald coloured beetle from Asia which has caused significant damage to ash trees in North America.
- Infusing resilience into the Scots pine genetic resource, breeding pine trees resilience to Dothistroma needle blight, a fungal disease which can reduce timber yields and even cause tree death.
- Developing novel methods to understand and mitigate grey squirrel bark stripping behaviour, on the impact of invasive grey squirrels on woodlands – with an estimated economic cost of £37 million annually – and how to combat bark stripping behaviour, which disincentivises tree planting and leaves trees susceptible to increased risk of disease.
As part of £700,000 of Defra-funded research, a second UK ash tree archive in Scotland has now been planted aimed at increasing resilience and further developing efforts for a breeding programme of tolerant UK ash. This is a key step towards restoring native ash back to our landscape.
2500 young trees have now been planted over the 1-hectare site. These trees have been specially selected as showing signs of potential resistance to the disease. Over the coming years, the less healthy individuals will be weeded out, allowing for the best trees to form a potential seed orchard for resistant ash seed production in future.
This follows over 3000 trees of tolerant ash being planted at the first ash archive site in southern England in 2019. Screening for tolerant trees in a different climate away from other threats will significantly boost research efforts. Identifying ash with a high tolerance to the disease will enable the development of orchards producing commercially available seed and prove transformative to our future landscapes.
The announcement marks the launch of this year’s National Plant Health Week (5-12 May 2025), an annual designated week of action to raise public awareness and engagement on how to keep our plants healthy, led by Defra in partnership with 32 organisations, including the Royal Horticultural Society, the Woodland Trust and the Horticultural Trades Association
