Giving value to trees

摘要

In our increasingly litigious society, the need to defend trees on the basis of their monetary value, or to put a figure on their loss or damage, is growing. But having such figures accepted as objective, in the same manner as other asset values, haspreviously proved problematic. As Landscape Planning principal consultant Dr Dealga O'Callaghan says: "It has been difficult in the past to put a value on a damaged or felled tree. If your neighbour hops over your wall and chops down a tree in your garden while you're on holiday, what's the value of that loss to you?"