Prince Charles visits Staffordshire woodland helping research impact of climate change - PICTURES
The Prince of Wales visited Staffordshire to see a woodland research lab that could help meet the future challenges of climate change.
Prince Charles was all smiles as he was taken on a guided tour around the University of Birmingham’s Institute of Forest Research (BIFoR), based in Norbury, north of Stafford.
During his appearance today Charles stopped to greet researchers and officials before unveiling a plaque to commemorate his visit to the Free-Air Carbon Dioxide Enrichment (Face) experiment facility.
Unveiling the plaque, made of planed oak, the prince quipped: “You’re not going to put it at the top of the tree, are you?”
He was in good spirits as he toured the facility – where carbon dioxide is pumped through large black pipes to form a prediction of what the atmosphere will be like thirty years from now.
Addressing the heir to the throne during the unveiling, University of Birmingham vice-chancellor David Eastwood, said: “We are honoured to host you here and to be able to demonstrate to you some of the unique science which is being undertaken here.
“The institute is designed to provide a step change in UK forest research. BIFoR Face gives us the opportunity to study how forest eco-systems perform under elevated carbon dioxide concentration’s of the kind we anticipate on the planet by 2050.”
The vice-chancellor of the university also presented Charles with an engraved bottle as a gift – which was found in the forest in 2015 and had been filled with air from the forest at its predicted CO2 level in 2050.
The site, which is one of only two such facilities in the world and it is the only facility that looks at the impact of carbon in forest systems, was established with a £15 million donation.
Now in its second year of a decade-long experiment, scientists will continue to work out how much carbon dioxide forests can take out of the atmosphere.
Professor Michael Tausz, who partly guided the prince around, said his visit was an ‘important’ factor in being able to get the message of the experiment out.
He said: “We know carbon dioxide is in the atmosphere and increasing continuously.”
“He is such a high profile person he can tell people about it. It is also good for those people who are really interested in making a difference to see all the things that are needed to get an informed opinion.”
