National Trust Northern Ireland has outlined fresh ambitions to help our planet’s green spaces. We’ll fill you in on what they are.
We’re proud to bring you the wonderful news that National Trust Northern Ireland has recently outlined commitments to becoming carbon net-zero carbon neutral by the year 2030. If all that sounds a little garbled to you, don’t worry; we’ll explain what the plan involves in this article.
With our planet beginning to struggle with the drastic effects of climate change more and more—the recent wildfires in Australia as one example—we love that Ireland is one of the leading countries dedicated in the fight of protecting our natural world.
What does the outline involve?
The National Trust has announced that they plan on planting more than 125,000 trees in Northern Ireland within the next decade. They said that their mission of “providing and protecting green spaces for public benefit has never been more relevant.”
This sounds pretty spectacular to us, but it doesn’t stop there; aside from planting trees, National Trust Northern Ireland are also bringing 890 hectares of priority habitat under restoration by 2025, and will be managing over 40 hectares of wildflower meadow by the end of this year (2020) as part of their plan to step up the battle against climate change.
They have said that locking up carbon by planting trees, investing more in renewable energy, and reducing the Trust’s overall carbon footprint are among the measures being taken by the organisation to reach their net-zero goal.
Looking to the future
The National Trust’s Director for Northern Ireland, Heather McLachlan, commented on these ambitions, saying: “As Northern Ireland’s biggest conservation charity, we have a responsibility to do everything we can to fight climate change, which poses the biggest threat to the places, nature, and collections we care for.”
She continued: “Our ambition is to plant more than 125,000 trees in the next 10 years, which will have the benefit of locking up carbon, and providing habitat for all sorts of nature and wildlife as well as being the backdrop to the adventures for future generations.
“We are committed to switching to renewable energy supplies and have set ambitious targets such as generating 50% of our energy use from renewable sources and reducing energy use by 15% in 2020.”
Plans to open up green spaces in urban areas in hopes of inspiring people to engage with nature and address a “worrying disconnect” are now also underway.
The benefits of nature
McLachlan also went on to comment about the mental and physical health benefits a walk in nature can have on a person. This is why National Trust Northern Ireland has set up a year-long campaign, “Everyone Needs Nature”, in hopes of getting more people active and involved with their local natural environment.
A year of activities is planned by the Trust, some examples being “tree planting, beach cleaning, yoga, and dancing in the great outdoors.”
McLachlan concluded, “I urge everyone to become part of our great environmental movement.”
