Green and pleasant UK - land use

Changes in land use have two possible effects. CO2 emissions are increased by conversion of forest and grassland to other uses such as factories and housing; CO2 removal is increased by planting of forest and abandonment of managed lands. Emissions and removals are currently about 8 MtC and 5 MtC per year respectively. Halting the conversion to other uses, e.g. by more intensive use of brownfield sites for factories and housing, and slightly more than doubling the amount of forest to about 5 million hectares shifts from net emission of 3 MtC to net removal of 10 MtC per year. This future UK is beginning to look a more green and pleasant land.

Why don't we plant sufficient forest and woodland to balance all emissions? One hectare of a maturing temperate forest removes nearly 4 tons of carbon per year, enough to offset one person's requirements for fossil fuel. Unfortunately the UK landmass is not quite 25 million hectares, less than half the area that would be required for 55 million people. On the other hand, such a strategy would be viable in North America or France where the population densities are much lower than in the UK.