By Sarah Mills
LONDON (Reuters) -London’s Kew Gardens will open a new garden focused on carbon that will showcase its importance in sustaining life, but also explore the role of carbon dioxide in the climate crisis and how plants can combat it.
The Carbon Garden will feature 6,500 plants, 35 new trees as well as a central pavilion structure inspired by fungi and will be a permanent fixture at the botanical gardens, which were first opened in 1759 and today are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
“The garden aims to show how crucial carbon is, while warning of the damage being caused by increasing carbon dioxide emissions,” said manager of garden design at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richard Wilford.
The year 2024 was the hottest on record, with global carbon dioxide emissions from the energy sector hitting a record high.
As well as signs explaining concepts such as photosynthesis, the process by which plants turn carbon dioxide into organic matter, the area will feature a so-called dry garden filled with hardy plants such as lavender that are able to cope in heat.
The garden, which took Wilford and his team over four years to build, includes new trees selected for their resilience to future projected climate conditions and their ability to absorb carbon dioxide.
Amanda Cooper, a doctoral researcher who consulted on the garden, said planting more such trees would be part of the solution to tackling climate change.
“By reestablishing woodlands, by stopping our deforestation, we can hopefully make a dent in what is being emitted to the atmosphere,” Cooper said.
“It’s not a complete dent because we’re still emitting fossil fuel emissions from our cars and factories. But it’s a start.”
(Writing by Sachin Ravikumar; Editing by Toby Chopra)
