How YOU can be a Daily Mail TREE ANGEL
Announcing our major new campaign to plant up to a million trees across Britain
‘Safeguarding a healthy future for our children’
TODAY the Daily Mail announces its Christmas campaign – calling on our army of loyal readers to plant trees for a greener Britain.
At a time when we traditionally gather around a tree, we are urging readers to ‘Be a Tree Angel and Make Britain Greener’.
We are appealing for donations to help plant more woodlands and create a more beautiful country. So please take part.
Trees create beauty, provide habitats for birds and wildlife and play a vital role in keeping our planet healthy.
They can also contribute to beating some of the alarming threats facing the UK: global warming, pollution and flooding.
They soak up the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide and air pollution in their leaves, absorb excess water in their roots and prevent soils from eroding.
While trees are needed more than ever in the UK, they are in peril as never before from both natural and man-made threats.
They are being ravaged by diseases such as dieback, which is proving as devastating to ash trees as Dutch Elm disease was to elms in the 1970s and 1980s. And they are being cut down at an increasing rate as more greenfield land is built on.
This is why the Daily Mail is backing a drive to plant thousands more trees across the United Kingdom in the coming weeks.
Our loyal army of caring readers have already made a huge difference to the UK.
More than 500,000 joined in litter-picking as part of the Great British Spring Clean this year, and 34,000 signed up to volunteer for the NHS as part of the Hospital Helpforce campaign last year.
This winter, we aim to plant trees in an effort coinciding with the start of National Tree Week, Saturday, November 23.
Last night, Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing said: ‘Planting trees is a vital part of our fight against climate change and will help end Scotland’s contribution to climate change by 2045.
‘More than 22 million new trees were planted in Scotland last year. We want more people and communities to get involved in creating and managing woodlands and growing more trees will help bring significant social and environmental benefits to our towns and cities.
‘We intend to boost our woodland cover to 21 per cent of the country by 2032. I hope this campaign inspires people to think about how they could get involved and I am happy to support it.’
UK Environment Minister Zac Goldsmith said: ‘This is a fantastic campaign by the Mail and it’s an honour to support it.
‘We need to plant vast numbers of trees to counter climate change, help turn the tide on biodiversity loss and absorb air pollution in our cities. And who doesn’t love trees?
‘The benefits will be felt for generations to come.’
Together with The Tree Council – the charity that represents every major group involved in tree planting and protection in the UK – our campaign will encourage people to plant trees and protect those trees we already have.
Scotland has pledged to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases it emits to ‘net zero’ by 2045.
The rest of the UK has vowed to do the same by 2050. But to do this we will need a huge increase in tree cover. According to the Committee on Climate Change, to radically reduce the amount of carbon dioxide entering the air, we will need to plant at least 1.5billion trees over the next 30 years.
That is about 30,000 hectares of forest a year – 116 square miles.
The total tree cover of the UK is 13 per cent and we must bring that up to 17 per cent. The bulk of trees planted in the UK in the year to March 2019 were in Scotland – 11,200 hectares.
England managed only 1,420 hectares, Wales 500 hectares and Northern Ireland 240 hectares.
Sara Lom, chief executive of The Tree Council, said: ‘We won’t survive the climate crisis without the help of trees. They can safeguard a green, healthy and happy future for our children and the planet. But to secure that future we need to plant millions more each year.
‘That’s why we are proud to partner with the Daily Mail on this campaign.’
Sir William Worsley, the UK Government’s National Tree Champion, said: ‘National Tree Week is a special call to get everyone planting and caring for trees together.’