500 hectare planting boost for England’s Community Forests
On 6 December 2020 DEFRA announced a new £12.1 million fund to plant over 500 hectares of trees in ten Community Forests over the next five months.
The programme is being delivered by a collaboration of ten Community Forest organisations, supported by The Community Forest Trust. Funding is from the £640 million Nature for Climate fund which aims to help the government deliver the English portion of the government’s manifesto commitment to increase tree planting to 30,000 hectares per year across the UK by 2025, alongside peatland restoration and nature recovery.
The Community Forest Trust are thrilled with the funding for Trees for Climate which is a significant investment for England’s Community Forests.
Interim CEO - Iain Taylor
Interim CEO Iain Taylor in response says;
“The Community Forest Trust are thrilled with the funding for Trees for Climate which is a significant investment for England’s Community Forests.
Our ambition is that the Community Forests grow to become a cornerstone delivery partner for government. They are key to help achieve the county’s tree planting and carbon sequestration targets. We know that the combination of woodland creation and the management of community woodlands has a huge range of benefits and a programme at this scale is hugely exciting as the benefits will be enormous.
He goes onto say:
“Previously the Community Forest Trust has focussed on supporting delivery of the Community Forests in the North West and those involved in delivering the Northern Forest. Our work with England’s Community Forests, Forestry Commission and Defra over the last few years has sought to support the wider Community Forest Partnership across England. Together we created Trees for Climate - a new national programme of investment in the Community Forests that sees their capacity to deliver grow with the recruitment of new staff and external support. Furthermore, this new programme of investment enables the Community Forest sector itself to grow, with support for new Community Forests.
We look forward to working with England’s Community Forests and partners and supporting delivery of this important programme.”