.png)
Teaming up to share valuable data to support urban forests
As a company committed to sustainability and environmental protection, KaarbonTech recognises the crucial role that trees play in our ecosystem. That's why we're proud to announce our partnership with the Royal Botanical Kew Gardens, in establishing the Tree Management Research Group. As a group, we are dedicated to sharing valuable data to support urban forests.
The partnership between KaarbonTech and Royal Botanical Kew Gardens cannot be understated enough. It is particularly significant, due to our customer base broadly comprising local authorities. Early in the partnership, it was evident that we have the relevant technology, and were already working with the local authority market, making them the perfect conduit to share the research that the Kew Garden scientists are undertaking on the impact of climate change on the UK tree stock.
Recognising the impact of climate change
The impact of climate change poses a significant global crisis, and we believe that it is imperative to use all available data and research to ensure the survival and success of trees. The Tree Management Research Group has been established to enable sharing of crucial data through technology and to provide local authorities with the most useful information on which to base their tree planting and maintenance programmes.
Here at KaarbonTech, we have over 10 years of expertise in delivering software and data management solutions, holding a deep understanding of the needs of our local authority customers. We recognise the best way to capture data, using that data to set highway works programmes in simple-to-view applications. This deep knowledge has led us to develop software that connects data from many sources, including open source and local data, to provide local authorities with the necessary information, including transport corridors and their limitations, the urban environment, anomalies, flooding information, existing tree planting, and customer complaints. All this information allows comprehensive, accurate and proactive maintenance programmes to be created.
Working in partnership
We're proud to collaborate with Royal Botanical Kew Gardens, whose scientific team has been researching the long-term effect of climate change on its tree collection of 2000 species and also a climate assessment of local authority tree collections. Considering highways trees, 42% would comfortably survive in a changing climate, 17% are on the edge of the range, and 27% of nursery stock available to local authorities is outside of the range, meaning they would not survive. This indicates that local authorities should reconsider their planting for the future. By joining forces with Kew Gardens and serving as the conduit to process, visualise, and produce actionable insights from their research data, we're facilitating an avenue for free-flowing information and joining up data to increase success.
At the end of January, we delivered 'Tree SMART Live' at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, where the Tree Management Research Group was launched. Over 60 highway authority delegates came together to hear from tree specialists and through round table discussions, debated what data and research would assist them in increased success in tree management.
We understand the critical role that trees play in our environment, and we are committed to ensuring their survival and success in the face of climate change. By collaborating with Royal Botanical Kew, and sharing valuable data with local authorities, through the Tree Management Research Group, we hope to equip decision-makers with the tools they need to make informed choices for successful tree planting and maintenance programmes.
Join us in our efforts to protect and enhance our urban forests.
For more information, visit www.kaarbontech.co.uk/tree-management-research-group