Our report, Church Land and the Climate Crisis, recommends three key ways that Church and Christian-owned land could be used to respond to the climate crisis. These are tree growing, peat protection and restoration, and supporting farmers to reduce emissions. We know that many dioceses and Christian landowners are keen to grow more trees, bringing benefits of carbon sequestration, habitat and biodiversity improvement and enhancing the environment for people too.
This video explains how the Diocese of Leeds have worked with the Woodland Trust to identify areas of their glebe land which are suitable for growing trees, and how this has been achieved with very little cost to the diocese. Nick Sellwood from the Woodland Trust shares how ‘this is probably one of the best times in many decades in terms of the funding available from the government in particular for tree planting’.
Jemima Parker from the Diocese of Leeds talks about being ‘really conscious of the climate justice issues and the way in which we need to show leadership in this area, both for our love and care of our global and local neighbours, as well as for our care of creation more widely’.
Jack Hirst from the Woodland Trust explains more about the process they have gone through together, agreeing aims for the project and assessing suitability of the different sites available.
Ben Burton, the Diocese of Leeds Property Manager, sums up the experience of working with the Woodland Trust Northern Forest team as being ‘a really fantastic programme to work with and their support has been invaluable’.
At the end of the video, Nick Sellwood explains how other dioceses and organisations across the UK could access a range of schemes to enable tree growing for woodland, as well as agro-forestry and hedge-planting. He points people to their website for more information, and recommends using as the best way to get in touch with advisors in your area.
We’re hoping many other dioceses and organisations will be inspired to explore how they could grow more trees on their land. We’d also love to hear from dioceses and organisations who could also inspire others with their practice in these areas of using land for climate benefit – if your project could be featured in a case study video or blog for us to share, please get in touch with .
