YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED
Why do we partner with Landowners?
If we are to reach our ambitious national tree planting targets, businesses and private individuals will need to work alongside Government and conservation organisations. Part of our unique expertise is to connect conservation-minded landowners who are happy for woodland to be created on their land with businesses looking to reduce their carbon footprint.
How do we choose where to plant?
In our crowded island space is at a premium but we have sourced areas of land across the UK, which are not suitable for growing food or building houses but which are ideal sites for woodland. When locating sites in accordance with the Lawton report and the Government’s 25-year plan, we look at how they might connect with other similar habitats in order to maximise their benefit to the UK’s biodiversity as a whole. So your woods are not an isolated island but part of a greater national nature network.
What makes British woodland so special?
Unlike other forms of carbon offsetting, planting woodland has the additional benefit of restoring British wildlife of which 50% has been lost since 1970. We specialise in British tree species planting woodland which is richer in biodiversity than commercial forestry. As well as the trees themselves, woods support a wide range of mammals, birds, insects and plants. Woodlands also reduce flooding and offer recreational opportunities of benefit to mental and physical wellbeing, providing a valuable asset for future generations.
How can we help you be carbon neutral?
Tree planting is an essential part of the solution to tackling the climate crisis. The beauty of trees is they go further than cutting emissions by actually sucking carbon out of the atmosphere. It is estimated that a hectare of mature woodland can absorb up to 300 tonnes of carbon so your project will count towards your business reaching carbon neutral status.
GLOSSARY OF BIODIVERSITY RELATED TERMS
Biodiversity
The number and types of plant and animal species that exist globally or in a particular area. Biological diversity is often understood at three levels: the diversity within species, the diversity between species and the diversity of ecosystems.
Biodiversity mitigation
The overall process of avoiding, minimizing, restoring/rehabilitating, and then offsetting or compensating for negative impacts to biodiversity.
Biodiversity offset
A quantified environmental benefit that is designed to compensate for any adverse impacts to habitat, environmental functions, or ecosystem services that cannot be avoided, minimised, and/or restored. Offsets can take the form of positive management interventions such as restoration of degraded habitat or preventing continued degradation. Offsets can be implemented by either the party directly responsible for adverse impacts or a third party.
Conservation
The protection of biodiversity, ecosystems and landscapes, particularly from the damaging impacts of human activity
Ecosystem dependency
Environmental conditions required for successful corporate performance. For example, the agricultural industry is dependent on plant pollinator species such as bees.
Ecosystem impact
How a company affects the quantity or quality of ecosystem services. For example, extractive industries such as mining can have an impact on ecosystems that exist on the land occupied by their extraction sites.
Ecosystem services
The benefits that people obtain directly or indirectly from ecosystems – the goods and services provided by nature. These can be divided into provisioning services (food, water, wood, raw materials), regulating services (pollination of crops, flood and disease control, water purification, prevention of soil erosion, sequestering carbon dioxide), cultural services (recreational, spiritual and educational services) and supporting services (nutrient cycling, maintenance of genetic diversity).
Ecotourism
Providing tourism services in natural areas that both conserve the environment and improve the well-being of local people.
Green infrastructure
Strategically created natural and semi-natural areas, designed and managed to allow nature to deliver a range of valuable ecosystem services (such as clean air and water), in both rural and urban settings.
Nature-based solutions to climate adaptation
Using natural (not man-made) techniques to either prevent, mitigate or adapt to the effects of climate change. For example, taking advantage of the carbon-sequestering properties of forests to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations, using green roofs to reduce the atmospheric heating effects of buildings or re-planting coastal areas with native plants to act as natural flood defence mechanisms.
Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES)
A financial tool for ensuring that those who maintain an ecosystem’s ability to provide services (e.g. to provide clean water) are compensated for carrying out - or refraining from - certain activities. Payees may be beneficiaries (e.g. a downstream user of clean water), or polluters offsetting their negative environmental impacts elsewhere. PES attempts to address failures current economic systems where the stewardship of ecosystems is not rewarded, often resulting in their over-use or conversion to more unsustainable land-uses.