Welsh veterans are planting trees to help combat climate change and improve lives with the launch of Plant a Tree Today Foundation’s Green Task Force Cymru.
Based at Mamhilad Park Estate, the charity, which has been established over 15 years, has been brought to Wales by former industrial abseiler and Royal Navy veteran Paul Webb of Griffithstown. Together with a team of nine veterans and former emergency services workers, Paul is about to begin planting 20,000 trees in Cwmbran on behalf of Octopus Energy. A further 220,000 trees will be planted in Swansea and surrounding areas as part of a larger program of work scheduled over the coming year.
Paul said: “86% of adults in the UK agree that green spaces filled with trees benefit their state of mind. Trees have so many incredible uses in urban areas; they provide shade, provide a habitat for wildlife, cleanse the air, remove pollutants, slow down rainfall under their canopies, and take up water to help alleviate the risk of flash flooding.
“We’re delighted to be working with veterans to help Wales to become a carbon neutral nation and look forward to generating more employment opportunities in the region.. Creating woodlands and urban forests will have so many benefits for future generations and we couldn’t have picked a better place to base ourselves – Mamhilad is such a beautiful business park that is easily accessible with an abundance of green space and surrounded by what we love and know best, trees.”
Plant a Tree Foundation was established in 2006. With offices in Hull, Merseyside, North Yorkshire and Cornwall the team has planted over 3 million trees to date and launched its own Forest Academy and training company. Further information is available at https://pattfoundation.org