13 February 2007
Green shoots for a greener future in Wales
Woodland Trust (Coed Cadw) to work with Welsh Assembly Government to plant a tree for every child born in Wales
Jerry Langford, the Woodland Trust’s Wales Director has welcomed the initiative by the Welsh Assembly Government to plant a tree for every child born in Wales, starting from September 2007, and to do this in partnership with Forestry Commission Wales, the Woodland Trust and its Tree For All Campaign.
Announced by First Minister Rhodri Morgan on Tuesday 13 February, the initiative will involve planting around 32,000 native trees at locations across Wales, covering around 30 hectares.
The trees will be planted in existing and new woodland areas mainly owned by the Woodland Trust, but also including some Assembly Government (Forestry Commission Wales) land. They will be native species and contribute to habitat improvement and biodiversity.
Each baby will receive a certificate to celebrate the tree being planted. Individual trees will not be labelled, but families will know which woodland area their tree has been planted in and it will be possible to visit all these woodland areas. The tree planting is being undertaken as part of a campaign to raise awareness of key challenges like climate change
Jerry Langford, the Woodland Trust’s Director Wales comments: “There can be no better way of marking the birth of a child than planting a native tree that, as it grows, will help create a better environment. Tree planting alone cannot prevent climate change, but what it can do is raise awareness, get people involved and help them improve our environment.
“The Woodland Trust is over two years into Tree For All, an ambitious campaign that aims to plant a tree for every child in the UK over a five year period, and to involve over a million children in doing this. So far 45,100 native trees have been planted in Wales as part of the project. The Assembly’s Tree For Every Child initiative will dovetail with Tree For All, and allow us to move up to a higher level.”
Ten reasons to plant native trees:
• Trees and forests are crucial to life on our planet. They generate oxygen, play host to a spectacular variety of wildlife and provide us with raw materials and shelter.
• Climate change makes it all the more important to create more areas of semi-natural habitat like woodland, which wildlife can use to adapt to changing conditions.
• Wildwood covered much of the UK after the Ice Age.
• Wales is now one of the least wooded countries in Europe. Less than 14% of the Wales is woodland compared with the average for European countries of 46%.
• The UK has over 50 native broadleaved species and only 3 native conifers.
• In 1980, native species accounted for only about 5% of trees planted in the UK; in 2000, the figure was over 40%.
• Ancient woodland, more than a few hundred years old, covers only 3% of the Wales.
• Nearly 50% of what little remained of the Wales's ancient woodland in the 1930s has been lost or degraded.
• Ancient woodland is our richest wildlife habitat and is irreplaceable.
• Ancient woodland is fragmented, with over 8 out of 10 woods being less than 20 hectares (50 acres).
For media enquiries contact:
Rory Francis (Publicity and Public Affairs Officer for Wales) on 07760 171174
Afallon, Tanygrisiau, Blaenau Ffestiniog, Gwynedd LL41 3RH
Email roryfrancis@woodland-trust.org.uk
Or Jerry Langford on 01570 471 568 or 07771 662 532
Or The Woodland Trust Press Office email media@woodland-trust.org.uk or Tel 01476 581121
Coed Cadw (The Woodland Trust)
The Woodland Trust is the UK’s leading woodland conservation charity. It has 250,000 members and supporters. The Trust has four key aims: i) No further loss of ancient woodland; ii) Restoring and improving the biodiversity of woods; iii) Increasing new native woodland; iv) Increasing people’s awareness and enjoyment of woodland.
Established in 1972, the Woodland Trust now has over 1,000 sites in its care covering approximately 20,000 hectares (50,000 acres). These include over 100 sites in Wales, with a total area of 1,580 hectares (3,900 acres). It offers free public access to nearly all of its sites. Further news can be accessed via www.coed-cadw.org.uk The Trust adopted a new Welsh language name in 2000: “Coed Cadw”. This is an old Welsh term, used in medieval laws to describe protected or preserved woodland.
