Member News
10th November 2010
Representatives from the conservation and forestry industries have been told they are at the forefront of the Big Society.
Speaking at the Woodland Trust parliamentary reception, 'Growing the Future: moving forward the woodland creation agenda', Defra minister Richard Benyon praised conservationists for being at the 'absolute heart' of the government's volunteerism plans.
Benyon told event attendees: "You are fulfilling Big Society aims and have been for years.
"You engage local people and local enthusiasms and you get things done. You save carbon from being emitted, you improve our landscapes, and you care for the most precious places in this country. For that, you can all feel enormously proud," Benyon said.
Benyon, the parliamentary under-secretary for natural environment and fisheries, went on to outline the ambitious plans that Defra has for woodland creation.
"Our Natural Environment white paper, due to be published in the spring of next year, will be seeking to achieve a clear strategy for the future," Benyon noted.
"I'm also pleased that Defra will be announcing Tree Week, our million tree-planting scheme. I was delighted that it rode seamlessly through the CSR process and is right at the heart of the department's business plan," he continued.
Also speaking at the reception, an annual event for the Trust, was Nick Boles MP.
Boles, whose constituency covers the headquarters of the Trust in Grantham, Lincolnshire, described the importance of the charity's work.
"Woodland and planting trees are vital issues across policy areas," Boles said.
He stated how woodland cover had a positive impact not only on health and air quality, but also in enabling future generations to "understand the planet that they have inherited".
Boles also noted the importance of tree-planting as a measure in combating climate change.
"Tree-planting is fantastically good for climate change," Boles said.
"There is almost no quicker or – ironically – cheaper way of making a difference than expanding the woodland that we have."
Introducing Richard Benyon, Nicola Nicholls, chair of the Woodland Trust, emphasised the numerous Trust projects aimed at expanding British woodland cover.
She highlighted the hugely successful 'Dear Defra' campaign, which resulted in over 8,000 Trust supporters writing to the department to call for the doubling of native woodland cover in the next 50 years.
Nicholls further referenced the Tree for All scheme, which has engaged nearly two million people in planting seven million trees; the More Trees, More Good public campaign launched this year; and the MOREwoods project, where the Trust aims to help landowners create their own native woodland.
However, she warned reception attendees against complacency.
Nicholls noted that whilst the pan-European average for woodland cover is 44 per cent, in the UK the figure is less than 12 per cent.
"Woodland creation will enable us to address some of the major challenges we face as a society," Nicholls said.
She continued: "In these troubled economic times our surroundings and the quality of life become even more important to us and help to focus and shape the kind of society that we want to live in, as we come out of recession."
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