Byron Braithwaite
A childhood spent in South Africa led me to a fascination with the outdoor environment, and following completion of a Forestry degree at Bangor University I was privileged to begin work in the forestry sector immediately. A passion for assisting landowners with the production of sustainable homegrown British timber, as well as diversifying our forests has inspired me each day since.
Creating forests that thrive in a changing climate
John Oldacre Foundation
Study Overview
The climate is changing, we are all aware of this fact but it is often difficult to make the adaptations we need to as quickly as we need to make them. This can be for a number of factors including financial, institutional, lifestyle, cultural or a lack of understanding. In the United Kingdom we can expect to see hotter and drier summers and an increase in the number of severe weather events. The trees we plant today will therefore encounter significant change over their lifetime (c. 40 years), meaning that the actions we take now in planning and managing our forests should account for these factors. My study will focus on how forest establishment is undertaken in hotter and drier climates elsewhere in the world, and how we can plan for fire in a more proactive way. I will also be interested in exploring how farming and forestry can collaborate to mitigate some of these factors using integrated land use models in an agro-forestry environment.