Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-07-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the threat of ash dieback disease to biodiversity across the UK; and if she will make a statement.

Rory Stewart

A series of research projects, jointly funded by Defra, has looked into the ecological impacts of ash dieback and investigated possible woodland management options which might ameliorate the problems caused by ash dieback. The results from this work have been published^[1]. The research found that there are tree species that share ecological traits or support some of the species associated with ash trees. However, there is no single tree species that would be able to fill the niche provided by ash in terms of both its ecosystem characteristics and biodiversity contribution.

The Forestry Commission provides advice to woodland managers about how best to manage and adapt to ash dieback, for example, by planting a variety of tree species as diversity brings resilience to pests and diseases.

[1] http://publications.naturalengland.org.uk/publication/5273931279761408

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