'Medway's Woodland & Trees Need Protecting' say Lib Dems on International Forest Day on March 21st
Every 21 March the United Nations raises awareness of the importance of all types of forests.
Covid-19 has highlighted the importance of access to green spaces and nature for physical and mental health for those who live alone across our towns, or without access to gardens, balconies, or green space. This is why Medway Liberal Democrats strongly supports the 'International Day of Forests' on 21st March, and this year's theme ' a path to recovery and wellbeing' .
Graham Colley LibDem candidate in the 2019 General Election for Rochester and now the Police and Crime Commissioner candidate for Kent said "every tree planted helps to clean our air, absorb carbon dioxide, filter water, create shade, enrich the soil, provide food and protection for small animals and to give birds a place to shelter and to nest. And that's just a few of the advantages of planting more trees, additionally, trees can have environmental and health benefits in our town's urban areas.
Locally we have vigorously campaigned to protect woodland areas which play an important part in our towns' rural heritage and have opposed developments on orchards located in Lower Rainham and rural land in Capstone Park. We want to protect these spaces as a vital asset for everyone in Medway and have consistently been calling on the Council to adopt a credible Local Plan to help protect the environment against developments of this nature. Building on 'brown build' sites as opposed to destroying Green Belt sites".
Liberal Democrats appreciate that local community groups are keen to undertake tree planting in their local area, and therefore we would like to work with these groups to help them turn their streets green. We are proud of our efforts to secure the provision of Medway's green infrastructure and remain committed to ensuring further progress as there is undoubtedly still more to be done.
ENDS
Additional Information for Editors:
For more information about 'International Day of Forests' visit - http://www.fao.org/international-day-of-forests/en/
Medway Urban Green Spaces Forum - Trees can have environmental and health benefits in urban areas. Their known benefits can include increasing resilience to climate change, filtering air pollution, absorbing carbon dioxide, providing habitats for wildlife and impacting positively on mental health and well-being. For more information - https://mugsforum.org/urban-forest/
The UK is one of the least forested countries in Europe, with just 10% of England covered by woodland, compared with 31% of France and 37% of Spain.
According to figures tree-planting in England fell well short of targets in the previous year. Only 1,420 hectares (3,507 acres) of trees were planted in England in the year to March 2019, against the government's target of 5,000 hectares.
The Committee on Climate Change has said the UK would need to plant 1.5bn trees, equivalent to an area of 30,000 hectares every year, if it was to meet its net-zero carbon target.
The Lib Dem initiative is part of the party's plans to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045 and to halve emissions by 2030 compared with today.
References: The social impacts of Coronavirus (COVID19) on Great Britain, May 2020. Office for National Statistics