Carbon capture
Our land in Nantgwynant has important carbon sinks: peat bogs at the top of the farm above the mountain wall and trees below. Both need protection. But we can also increase the number of trees.
About half the weight of a tree is carbon and each kilo of carbon a tree stores in its trunk, roots, branches and leaves means that almost four times as much carbon dioxide has been taken out of the atmosphere. When trees die the carbon they store is released, however this happens over different time frames depending on what happens after it dies. If the wood is burned for example, carbon is released very quickly, but if it is left to decay slowly carbon is released over many years – and some is transferred into the soil. If the wood from a tree is used to build furniture or a house, then the carbon can remain ‘locked up’ for decades or centuries. Mature forests have generally reached an equilibrium, neither gaining nor losing carbon, since as some trees die and rot others grow and remove carbon from the atmosphere. Deforestation, which releases carbon, is hugely damaaging however and must be stopped. But we also need new forests and at Llyn Gwynant we will establish them by planting and re-wilding. We will remove sheep, which also produce greenhouse gas, and allow trees to grow, which will also benefit local biodiversity.