Trees don’t only bring pleasure to millions of us – they provide a broad range of career options to help manage habitats and fight climate change.

Woodlands and forests enhance and support our lives. Trees absorb and store carbon dioxide, provide wood, moderate climate, help regulate our supply of fresh water, prevent erosion and flooding, provide a wide range of habitats for people and wildlife, and bring huge pleasure and wellbeing to millions.

Forestry and timber also play a major role in developing a low carbon economy: planting new trees offsets emissions and helps lock-up carbon in construction. Each nation has their own tree-planting strategy and target to help achieve their net zero goals.

Careers tend to split into two main areas. Forestry is the science and practice of planting, managing and harvesting forests for wood and timber, while arboriculture involves cultivating and managing trees in urban environments, like parks, community spaces and private properties. While there’s some overlap in skills, foresters tend to manage forests and timber on a larger scale while arborists look after trees in smaller green spaces. Both options offer diverse, challenging career opportunities.

• The area of woodland in the United Kingdom is estimated to be 3.2 million hectares

• The UK has a tree-planting target of 30,000 hectares a year by 2024 – the equivalent of at least 90 million trees

• 69% of the UK population visited woodland in 2021

• In the Republic of Ireland, the area of forest is estimated to be 770,020 ha or 11% of the total land area of Ireland - over 50% of this is in public ownership, mainly through Coillte

The UK and Republic of Ireland’s highways don’t just keep people and goods moving safely and efficiently – they offer lots of interesting career opportunities too.

Building and maintaining the UK’s highways is a huge undertaking. According to the RAC, there over 32,000 miles of major roads in the UK, making up 13% of all roads. An efficient, effective highway network is an important part of our economy – roads connect people to employment, health care, education and leisure, particularly in rural communities who depend on roads for economic growth. Keeping our road network in good working order is vital and each nation has its own dedicated road management agency to plan, design, build and operate major roads.

In the Republic of Ireland, the primary and secondary road network is some 5,306km long and is made up of motorways, dual carriageways and single lane roads.

Hundreds of workers carry out road improvements every day, following a carefully planned programme of maintenance. There are also roles available in planning and building new roads, with a variety of career options to help make sure this vital work is carried out safely and efficiently.

• There are almost 32,000 miles of major roads in the UK

• Motorways have the highest average traffic flow with 62,000 vehicles for each mile of motorway per day in 2020

• Public sector spending on roads in the UK reached nearly £11 billion in 2020/21, with the amount spent on roads by local authorities being consistently higher than that spent on national roads

• In the Republic of Ireland, €35bn of funding has been allocated for transport projects until 2030

The world of horticulture and landscaping is fast-moving, ever-changing and leading the way in combatting climate change.

Growing and harvesting plants for financial, environmental or social benefits not only helps the environment, it can also boost wellbeing – and from lawn mowing to landscaping, greenkeeping to scientific research, horticulture offers a huge range of rewarding careers.

Humans have been been growing plants and maintaining the natural environment since ancient times and horticulture has never stopped changing and adapting. As we learn more about the impact of climate change and weather extremes, horticulturalists are dealing with some of the biggest issues of the day: what will we plant in the future if resources like water and nutrients become limited? How do we make the most of the rapid advances in growing techniques, machinery, and cultivation?

Horticulture and landscaping plays an important part in our economy. It’s a dynamic industry, with continuous research and development and a focus on using technology to make growing more sustainable. That has created a range of exciting job opportunities for people who are passionate about plants, science and growing solutions.

• The UK horticulture industry is worth over £9 billion each year

• The industry supports the employment of almost 340,000 people, with landscapers and retailers accounting for 83% of the total

• Private gardening is an important activity for UK citizens, with households spending £7.5bn on gardening goods, including cut-flowers, a year

• The Republic of Ireland's horticulture industry is valued at €477m; it is the fourth largest industry after dairy, beef and pigs in terms of gross agricultural commodity output value

• The industry employs approximately 17,000 people in the Republic of Ireland - an estimated 6,600 people directly employed full-time and another 11,000 indirectly employed in value-added and downstream businesses