Understanding, expanding and sustaining UK treescapes: People, place and nature in a changing world

Expanding tree cover is central to addressing the interconnected challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss and societal well‐being. However, achieving these ambitions requires a deeper understanding of where, how and why treescapes should expand and how they can be managed in ways that are environmentally sustainable, socially legitimate and resilient to future change. The UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Future of UK Treescapes programme was established to address these challenges through interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research.

This editorial introduces a Special Issue arising from the Future of UK Treescapes programme and reflects on the collective insights generated across its interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research portfolio. The papers are synthesised around three interconnected themes that reflect the programme's ambitions: understanding and valuing UK treescapes, identifying pathways for expanding UK treescapes and building resilient treescape futures.

The papers demonstrate that treescapes are more than ecological systems or mechanisms for climate mitigation. They are socio‐ecological landscapes shaped by interactions between environmental processes, cultural values, governance, history and lived experience. The contributions broaden understanding of the multiple values of treescapes, identify socially informed pathways for woodland expansion and explore how resilient treescapes depend upon both ecological integrity and societal responses to environmental change.

Taken together, the papers illustrate the value of integrating perspectives from the environmental sciences, social sciences and arts and humanities, alongside collaboration with policymakers, practitioners and communities. They demonstrate that understanding and managing treescapes requires recognising diverse forms of knowledge and navigating competing environmental, social and cultural priorities to support more resilient landscape futures.

The Special Issue argues that understanding, expanding and sustaining future treescapes depends on recognising the dynamic relationships between people, place and nature. By bringing together diverse disciplinary perspectives and knowledge communities, the Future of UK Treescapes programme demonstrates how integrated approaches can generate richer evidence to inform policy and practice for treescapes in a changing world.