805,873 
Andy Egan’s World Forestry Congress Blog
On Sunday I attended the last part of the pre World Forestry Congress (WFC) event on community based forestry organised under the banner of the Forest Farm Facility. One might have expected with this being the first ever WFC held on the African continent that the room would have been full of community-based organisations (CBOs) from across Africa.
When I last visited Nkhata Bay North, Malawi in September 2014, I was working with Temwa staff on community consultations. We were developing a project proposal to be submitted to the Big Lottery Fund. Now, 11 months later, it is exciting to return with the proposal having been approved, the grant awarded and the project up and running.
And yes, the Nkhata Bay Natural Way project really has hit the ground running.
Regardless of where you’re growing up, in the UK, Kenya or Lebanon, trees are equally important to your daily life. But how often do kids have the chance to get out into the woods? In the UK today, only 10% of children spend time playing outside, compared to 40% for their parents’ generation. Studies show that green spaces and trees are important for childhood development, concentration levels, anxiety control and much more.
Blaen Bran Community Woodland is set amidst the Cwnbran uplands in the Torfaen borough of Wales. Recently the woodland suffered a set back with a statutory order to fell its larch trees which had become affected with the Phytophtora ramorum disease sometimes known as “larch tree disease”. ITF are supporting a project to re-plant an acre of land with 600 new trees to create more diverse woodland with a mixture of hazel, beech and birch which will be coppice managed.
Young eco warriors are championing the cause for trees at Acresfield Community Primary School. ITF are supporting a project to plant 50 indigenous trees to help the school increase its woodland. Not only will the children help plant the new trees, but they will also care for them in the future. This will be great for showing these young scientists how trees grow, flower and seed and to investigate what animals and insects use the trees.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) have declared 2015 “The International Year of Soils” (IYS2015).
With the European Tree of the Year voting now underway, we have decided to turn our attention to Slovakia’s entry into this year’s competition… the white mulberry.
The Morus alba or white mulberry entered in the competition is known by the locals as “the lighthouse of history”, watching over the growing city of Senica. It has been dated to around 200 years old.
Welcome to the brand new ITF Blog . Our Communications Officer at ITF has just persuaded me to open a Twitter account and to start blogging. I feel like I am being technologically upgraded. But will this be for the better?
It also highlights the possibilities of limiting and even reversing the damage already done. This programme left me, and I’m sure most viewers, with an urgent sense that action must be taken, and a fear that not enough will be done. We know that large institutions, governments and private companies have to make the right…
The announcement follows a report published by the Independent Panel on Forestry that called UK forests and woodland a “national asset” and urged UK government to protect and value it as such. The report listed many benefits of forests and trees, including “carbon storage, flood protection, biodiversity and habitat provision, and wider ecosystem services.” It…