There Are Trees and There Are Trees!

The UK government have been urged to offer inducements to farmers to plant more trees (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/sep/28/support-uk-farmers-climate-targets-ministers-told). This is because trees are a valuable means of sequestering carbon from the atmosphere (largely in the form of wood), reducing greenhouse gases and limiting rampant climate change. They have, of course, other benefits as they provide shelter and are also much-utilised by wildlife. The only problem that I have with the current dialogue is that it seems to be largely couched in the terms of 'crops'. It is pointed out that growing trees, represents a long-term 'investment', before the rewards can be realised. It seems to me, that this kind of talk, encourages the planting monocultures of rapidly growing pine species (that are easy to section). This is commercial forestry rather than an intervention to improve the environment. I have been noted repeatedly, that other tree species are much better in terms of their impact on carbon dioxide levels. Woodlands of mixed species are also a) more disease resistant and b) support a much wider array of other animals, fungi and plants.