A much-needed campaign to raise awareness about the importance of resilience in our woodlands is shortly to get underway.
Work behind the scenes for more than one year has seen organisations and experts from across the forestry and tree sector coming together to work on a range of activities. The degree and method of collaboration has been unprecedented. Sylva’s team have been centrally involved in helping the process advance and in fostering collaboration. Our CEO has acted as editor-in-chief for the drafting of an Accord (see below) and thanks to funding from Forestry Commission England and the Woodland Trust, we are repeating the British Woodlands Survey, this time on the theme of Resilience (see below).
The first outcomes will be launched publicly at the CLA Game Fair on July 31st. The main outcomes of the Resilient Woodlands Campaign will be:
- An Accord detailing common agreement among a very wide partnership of organisations that environmental change is impacting our woodlands, and that fundamental changes in actions are necessary.
- A series of Adaptation in Action statements from a large number of organisations outlining their specific stance, activities and intended outcomes.
- A national survey on Resilience, under the British Woodland Survey series to launch 31st July – Now Live (click here). We encourage all woodland owners, agents, tree nursery businesses and tree professionals to take part.
Read more about the British Woodlands Survey 2015 - Conference on Resilience organised jointly by the Woodland Trust and Royal Forestry Society on October 1st.
Read more
The British Woodlands Survey will be national in perspective. Although the brand name of the survey series run by the Sylva Foundation uses the term ‘British’, we hope to attract responses from across the United Kingdom.
Some elements of the campaign have an English focus due to funding bodies involved and policy fit. Outcomes of the campaign will feed directly into the National Adaptation Programme, overseen by Defra and supported by Climate Ready (Environment Agency).