Climate Change

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Our planet is heating up faster than ever before, in what has been described as one of the biggest threats to humankind.  Since the industrial revolution, atmospheric carbon concentrations and global temperatures have increased significantly and consistently. This is mainly down burning of fossil fuels which releases carbon that was previously been stored deep underground for thousands of years.

Carbon dioxide and other greenhouses gas levels have not been this high for over four million years. 

This has resulted in consistent global average temperature rises, causing ever worsening problems including sea levels rising, more frequent droughts and wildfires, floods, crop failures and ecosystems collapsing. 

Planting trees is one of the best ways to fight climate change. Trees are amazing carbon-capturing machines, absorbing and storing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. 

Depending on what happens to trees when they die, however, much of the carbon they sequestered during their lives can be returned to the atmosphere by rotting or burning. Significantly more carbon is retained and stored in the soil from trees in long-term woodlands than in other environments, as the soil remains undisturbed. This is partly why we insist on owning and permanently protecting our woodlands.

As well as sequestering carbon, trees also help mitigate the effects of climate change, interrupting rainfall and surface water to reduce flash flooding, lowing and regulating local air temperature and protecting soil from erosion and degradation. Creating permanently protected woodlands is a powerful weapon against the climate emergency.