Leading conservationists, celebrities and MPs have objected to plans that would allow trophy hunters to legally kill the world’s most important elephant population. 

A demonstration against proposals by Botswana’s government to permit the resumption of elephant hunting took place in London and marked the launch of a new campaign to make the bloodsport illegal.

Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Bill Oddie, Peter Egan and Sir Ed Davey MP were among those who handed in a letter addressed to Botswana’s President that has also been signed by Nicky Campbell, Stephen Fry, Ricky Gervais, Joanna Lumley, Virginia McKenna, Chris Packham, Sara Pascoe and Carol Royle.

Nearing extinction 

Demonstrators also delivered a petition with 250,000 signatures calling on president Mokgweetsi Masisi to keep the elephant trophy hunting ban in place.

The Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting said that nearly 2,500 ‘trophies’ have been brought back into Britain by hunters over the past decade, of which almost 700 were elephant body parts. As well as tusks, UK hunters have taken elephant feet, skins, bones, ears, and tails.

Other popular animal trophies for UK hunters were hippos, bears, baboons, leopards, zebras and lions, and included whole bodies, skins, tails, tusks, feet, skulls, teeth, and bones, as well as mounted trophies.

Campaigners said that plans to hunt elephants in Botswana could push the species further towards extinction.

The country has the world’s largest population of African elephants – twice as many as any other nation – thanks largely to a hunting ban. However new President Mokgweetsi Masisi, who came into power in April 2018, wants to lift the ban.

Conservation disaster

In their letter to president Masisi, delivered to the Botswana High Commission in London last week, the group of celebrities and conservationists said: “The population of elephants has plummeted in recent years, with trophy hunting and ivory poaching largely to blame. Today, one third of all African elephants in the wild are found in Botswana.

“With its population dwindling and increasingly scattered, the impact of trophy hunting could be disastrous and possibly contribute to the extinction of the species.

“This would be a major global conservation disaster – potentially the worst in living memory – and have tremendously damaging consequences for efforts to conserve endangered fauna and flora everywhere.”

Figures released last week by the Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting show that over the past decade (2008-17) 693 elephant trophies have been brought back into the UK by British hunters. In 2017 alone, the list of trophies included 8 elephant ears, 1 set of bones, 4 feet, 6 skins, 1 tail, and 4 tusks.

Over the last 10 years, 2498 hunting trophies in all have been imported by hunters into the UK. In 2017, the list included 15 lion bodies and skulls; 17 hippo tusks, skulls and ‘leather products’; 2 polar bear bodies; 2 wolves; 2 brown bears; and a leopard skull.

Immediate ban

Eduardo Gonçalves, founder of the Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting and author of the 250,000-strong Care2 petition protesting the plan to bring back elephant trophy hunting in Botswana, said an international treaty was needed to stop the bloodsport and protect endangered wildlife: “Trophy hunting is cruel and inhumane.

“Large animals such as elephants suffer lingering and painful deaths after being shot. Trophy hunting is putting real pressure on already-threatened species such as elephants, lions and rhinos, and may contribute to us losing them altogether.

“Trophy hunting needs to be banned now, before it’s too late.”

In a statement, Joanna Lumley said: “I have always considered trophy hunting the lowest of the low. Killing animals for fun is just disgusting. 

We are urging President Masisi to reject the proposal to lift the ban on trophy hunting for the sake of the elephants in his beautiful country and for the reputation of humans everywhere.”

‘Inexplicable and inexcusable’

Botswana’s plans have angered leading conservationists. Bill Oddie warned that allowing trophy hunting could spell disaster: “I’m just incredulous that anyone would even think this is a good idea. Elephants are fast approaching a pre-extinction phase. They’ve disappeared from much of Africa.

“You’ve got small isolated groups separated from one another. Trophy hunting in the one place where they are relatively thriving could spell disaster. Botswana is the last hope for the African elephant. If we lose them here, the whole battle could be lost.”

Damian Aspinall added: “As a conservationist and as someone directly involved in working to save persecuted species, I can say from first-hand experience that hunting for ‘sport’ is putting tremendous pressure on our wildlife.

“Trophy hunting is simply inexplicable and inexcusable, and those who practice it need to take a long, hard look at themselves and what they’re doing. Elephants have been with us for millions of years.”

‘Colonial-era obsession’

Aspinall continued: “Are we really going to allow them to disappear within the blink of an eye just because a handful of people take pleasure from killing them?”

Legendary explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes has thrown his weight behind the campaign for a global ban: “Our children will despise us if we let elephants die out. We should hang our heads in shame at what’s going on.

“People who kill elephants for fun need to be stopped. We need a global ban and tough jail terms for all trophy hunting and poaching.”

Dr Mark Jones, head of policy at the Born Free Foundation, likened trophy hunting to a ‘colonial-era obsession’: “Born Free is opposed to the killing of any animal for sport or pleasure.

“Trophy hunting is a relic of a colonial-era obsession with killing iconic and often rare wild animals for sport, and has no place in progressive conservation programmes.”

Safe haven

Politicians from across the political spectrum have condemned Botswana’s plans and backed a ban on trophy hunting.

Sir Ed Davey MP said: “The case for legal hunting of elephant ranges from weak to immoral. Legal hunting can often act as a cover for illegal hunting, endangering the species – and the idea that tourist money trickles down to support local people who then prevent poaching simply isn’t proven. We need the ban – and we need to resource its enforcement, urgently.”

Chris Williamson MP added: “The appalling, indiscriminate killing of elephants for their tusks is barbaric. There has been a spate of killings in Botswana, a previous safe haven for these beautiful creatures. That’s why I am calling on the Botswana Government to take action to address the slaughter of these animals without delay”.

This Author 

Marianne Brooker is a contributing editor for The Ecologist. This article is based on a press release from the Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting. 

Matt Ridley is an Eton and Oxford educated member of the British aristocracy. He inherited a sprawling 8,500-acre estate and has a loving family. He is a talented and popular science writer and a member of the influential Science and Technology Committee in the House of Lords.

Ridley wants us to trust him with our future: the future of the entire planet. We must ignore the increasingly concerned warnings of the world’s leading climate scientists that rising temperatures will lead to mass starvation through famine and water stress, and perhaps then civil war.

The graduate in zoology has been attacking climate science since 1996 when, as a Telegraph columnist, he repeated the denier claims of the Environment Unit of the Institute of Economic Affairs, which is, in turn, funded by oil, tobacco and pharmaceutical companies.

Trust Me

The Viscount has perused the literature and spoken to those in the know; he has his ear to the ground, and whispers into the ears of newspaper proprietors including Rupert Murdoch and politicians including family member Owen Paterson. Relax, he says, trust me. The risks are not that high, everything will likely go on as usual: no reason to fear the future.

This is exactly what he would have told thousands of working class families across the North of England when they trusted their savings with, or took out mortgages from, Northern Rock, the regional mutual that had been transformed under Ridley into a thrusting financial powerhouse.

Ridley is a keen supporter of neoliberal economics – the belief that markets are self-correcting and based on the actions of logical agents all working in their own self-interest. Modern free market economics – relied on by banks modelling risk – rests on the assumption that everyone knows the price of everything, and prices include the cost of future events.

According to this economic model, crises do not happen and banks cannot fail. The whizz-kids on Wall Street understood the markets, all knowledge was perfect, risk had been measured and sold to insurance companies, and everything would likely go on as usual, no reason to fear the future.

Neoliberal experiment

Northern Rock demutualised in October 1997, which meant it was no longer owned and accountable to its members. This was made possible by the deregulation of the markets masterminded by Nigel Lawson as Tory chancellor.

The company was at the leading edge of “a neoliberal experiment that, in the name of individual freedom, was constructed to revive the flagging fortunes of capitalism following an extended period of stalled growth during the 1970s.”

The Rock had assets of £15.8 billion at that time but within a decade had grown six-fold with £101 billion in assets on its books – mostly secured lending on families’ homes. Things were going incredibly well. Until they weren’t.

The company was taking out very short-term loans cheaply on the international markets and then using the cash to lend mortgages sometimes lasting more than 30 years. They would then sell these mortgages to the international markets (before any defaults) in what is now widely known as “securitisation”.

Mortgage crisis

Then, on 9 August 2007, the traders at the Rock noticed a “dislocation in the market”. The sub-prime mortgage crisis in the United States was starting to unfold, liquidity in the international markets crystallised as lenders got spooked, and people stopped offering cheap loans to Ridley and his bank.

Ridley, giving evidence to a parliamentary inquiry, told of how he had assumed that lenders would still offer cash to his “quality” bank once the crisis of toxic loans became apparent. He also never expected an international crisis of the markets, feeling safer by borrowing from the US, Europe, the Far East and beyond.

“We deliberately diversified our funding platform,” he whimpered. “The idea that all markets would close simultaneously was unforeseen by any major authority.” Mistakes were made, it seems, but not by Ridley.

Profit warning

Mervyn King, then Governor of the Bank of England, seemed less than sympathetic to this blamestorming. Ridley and his bank had failed to take out adequate insurance against a liquidity crisis, unlike Countrywide in the United States, which had allowed for some possibility of market failure.

The share price of Northern Rock had been sliding throughout the year but the firm was forced to put out a profit warning on 27 June 2007, resulting in the bank losing 10 percent of its value over night. In less than a month, its shares lost a third of their value.

Ridley was absolutely humiliated. “On 30 August 2007, Sir Ian Gibson, senior independent director at Northern Rock, asked for, and received, agreement by each member of the board of Northern Rock to resign should such resignations be needed,” read the House of Commons investigation report.

Panic set in. The BBC reported at 8.30pm on September 13 that year that Northern Rock had asked for and been granted emergency funding from the Bank of England, to prevent insolvency and collapse.

“That day,” the House of Commons recalled, “long queues began to form outside some of Northern Rock’s branches; later its website collapsed and its phone lines were reported to be jammed. The first bank run in the United Kingdom since Victorian times was underway.”

Ridley resigns

Ridley did not appeal to his depositors to put the interests of their friendly mutual ahead of their own panic and self-interest. He did not have the charisma of James Stewart’s George Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life. More to the point, Ridley had advocated free markets, self-interest, and that greed is good.

And his bank collapsed. Ridley announced his resignation on 19 October.

“The directors of Northern Rock were the principle authors of the difficulties that the company has faced since August 2007. It is right that members of the Board of Northern Rock have been replaced, although haphazardly since the company became dependent on liquidity support from the Bank of England.

“The high-risk, reckless business strategy of Northern Rock, with its reliance on short and medium term wholesale funding and an absence of sufficient insurance and a  failure to arrange standby facility or cover that risk, meant it was unable to cope…”

Virgin money

The bank was taken into Government ownership, the most profound humiliation for the staunch advocate of the free market and attacker of the nanny state. It owed the government £26.9 billion by the end of the year.

The government later sold the firm to Richard Branson’s company for £747 million and it was rebranded Virgin Money, with £73 million paid a few months later. The taxpayer – through the government – suffered an immediate loss of the same magnitude while still owning the “toxic” part of the bank that was creaking with bad debts. The social costs were unprecedented.

Matt Ridley said at the time: “I enormously regret what happened at Northern Rock. It’s an incredibly painful memory for me, and it’s something that I will live with for the rest of my life. I have nothing but remorse for my role in what happened. I’ve apologised and explained as much as I can…”

Unfortunately for everyone else on this planet, this regret did not translate into a humbleness about his inability to understand capitalism, the international markets, risk, uncertainty, and – one might argue – reason.

This Author

Brendan Montague is editor of The Ecologist, founder of Request Initiative and co-author of Impact of Market Forces on Addictive Substances and Behaviours: The web of influence of addictive industries (Oxford University Press). He tweets at @EcoMontague. This article first appeared at Desmog.uk.

The idea that planting trees is the wrong way to tackle our depleted woodlands is quite controversial. Expressing this opinion out loud at a Tree Conference is downright dangerous – but Isabella Tree, author of the book Wilding, was so persuasive that she’d convinced most of the audience by the end of her talk. 

Tree challenged the wisdom of the accepted concept and argued that letting trees seed naturally and grow up through brambles and scrub, which provides natural protection, is a more successful way to develop woodlands long term – and her book provides the compelling supporting evidence. 

In it, she tracks the inspirational story of how she and her husband Charlie Burrell undertook a daring experiment to rewild their Knepp Estate in West Sussex. After decades of intensive but unprofitable farming had left their 3,500 acres denuded, the land is now bursting with life – from critically endangered nightingales, turtle doves and purple emperor butterflies to rocketing populations of many other struggling species. 

Stark warnings

Tree explained: “Dynamic open wood pasture systems are vital for our native wildlife. At Knepp, we are achieving tree regeneration with a minimum of human intervention.”

Her talk was thought-provoking and hopeful, and encouraged the idea of getting more trees in our landscape through this cheaper, more efficient and less polluting way. She backing up her argument with data accumulated since starting her project in 2000.

The conference also highlighted a worryingly under-researched area: the negative impact of human society on the fungi that plays a vital role in the health of our forests.

Dr Martin Bidartondo and his pan-European team have spent ten years investigating the often-overlooked relationship of the plant-fungal system.

Their work so far has shown excess man-made CO2 and nitrogen is overloading our woodlands and adversely affecting the delicate underground network that links tree roots. He had a stark warning that we continue to ignore this vital symbiosis at our peril.

It was not all doom and gloom, however. It was heartwarming to hear the uplifting enthusiasm of a group of school children from Hampshire. They eloquently represented Andover Trees United, which was founded by Wendy Davis to work closely with 25 schools and the community as part of a ten-year plan to create a woodland on a 44-acre patch of land.

Information corridor

Now at the half-way point, 5,000 trees have been planted in the Harmony Wood. Granted, against the scale of our arboreal deficiencies it’s a little acorn – only 10 percent of England is covered in woodland compared with an average 37 percent across the rest of Europe. But the youngsters’ interest has spread to their family and friends and forged a strong bond between these trees and their community.

The subject matter of environmental conferences tends to keep the mood sober and downbeat but Suzi Martineau and her team heading up the Frome meeting for the second year, maintained a flow of positive news that left the audience enthused about how communities can drive the change we need.

The idea of a wildlife corridor – linking habitats so that animals can move freely – is well known. The Tree Conference organisers have an ambitious aim to create an information corridor, offering training to support others in establishing Tree Conferences in the UK and beyond that can work together for maximum results.

The plan reflects the conference’s optimistic message that there are many routes to the over-arching aim: to encourage a love of and desire to protect our trees. There’s even a place for digging holes and planting them.

This Author 

Gary Cook is an environmental painter who was the senior artist for The Sunday Times for twenty six years. He exhibits regularly in the south west and London including with the Society of Graphic Fine Art, the RI, the RWA and The Arborealists. Gary tweets from @cookthepainter. 

The idea that planting trees is the wrong way to tackle our depleted woodlands is quite controversial. Expressing this opinion out loud at a Tree Conference is downright dangerous – but Isabella Tree, author of the book Wilding, was so persuasive that she’d convinced most of the audience by the end of her talk. 

Tree challenged the wisdom of the accepted concept and argued that letting trees seed naturally and grow up through brambles and scrub, which provides natural protection, is a more successful way to develop woodlands long term – and her book provides the compelling supporting evidence. 

In it, she tracks the inspirational story of how she and her husband Charlie Burrell undertook a daring experiment to rewild their Knepp Estate in West Sussex. After decades of intensive but unprofitable farming had left their 3,500 acres denuded, the land is now bursting with life – from critically endangered nightingales, turtle doves and purple emperor butterflies to rocketing populations of many other struggling species. 

Stark warnings

Tree explained: “Dynamic open wood pasture systems are vital for our native wildlife. At Knepp, we are achieving tree regeneration with a minimum of human intervention.”

Her talk was thought-provoking and hopeful, and encouraged the idea of getting more trees in our landscape through this cheaper, more efficient and less polluting way. She backing up her argument with data accumulated since starting her project in 2000.

The conference also highlighted a worryingly under-researched area: the negative impact of human society on the fungi that plays a vital role in the health of our forests.

Dr Martin Bidartondo and his pan-European team have spent ten years investigating the often-overlooked relationship of the plant-fungal system.

Their work so far has shown excess man-made CO2 and nitrogen is overloading our woodlands and adversely affecting the delicate underground network that links tree roots. He had a stark warning that we continue to ignore this vital symbiosis at our peril.

It was not all doom and gloom, however. It was heartwarming to hear the uplifting enthusiasm of a group of school children from Hampshire. They eloquently represented Andover Trees United, which was founded by Wendy Davis to work closely with 25 schools and the community as part of a ten-year plan to create a woodland on a 44-acre patch of land.

Information corridor

Now at the half-way point, 5,000 trees have been planted in the Harmony Wood. Granted, against the scale of our arboreal deficiencies it’s a little acorn – only 10 percent of England is covered in woodland compared with an average 37 percent across the rest of Europe. But the youngsters’ interest has spread to their family and friends and forged a strong bond between these trees and their community.

The subject matter of environmental conferences tends to keep the mood sober and downbeat but Suzi Martineau and her team heading up the Frome meeting for the second year, maintained a flow of positive news that left the audience enthused about how communities can drive the change we need.

The idea of a wildlife corridor – linking habitats so that animals can move freely – is well known. The Tree Conference organisers have an ambitious aim to create an information corridor, offering training to support others in establishing Tree Conferences in the UK and beyond that can work together for maximum results.

The plan reflects the conference’s optimistic message that there are many routes to the over-arching aim: to encourage a love of and desire to protect our trees. There’s even a place for digging holes and planting them.

This Author 

Gary Cook is an environmental painter who was the senior artist for The Sunday Times for twenty six years. He exhibits regularly in the south west and London including with the Society of Graphic Fine Art, the RI, the RWA and The Arborealists. Gary tweets from @cookthepainter. 

The idea that planting trees is the wrong way to tackle our depleted woodlands is quite controversial. Expressing this opinion out loud at a Tree Conference is downright dangerous – but Isabella Tree, author of the book Wilding, was so persuasive that she’d convinced most of the audience by the end of her talk. 

Tree challenged the wisdom of the accepted concept and argued that letting trees seed naturally and grow up through brambles and scrub, which provides natural protection, is a more successful way to develop woodlands long term – and her book provides the compelling supporting evidence. 

In it, she tracks the inspirational story of how she and her husband Charlie Burrell undertook a daring experiment to rewild their Knepp Estate in West Sussex. After decades of intensive but unprofitable farming had left their 3,500 acres denuded, the land is now bursting with life – from critically endangered nightingales, turtle doves and purple emperor butterflies to rocketing populations of many other struggling species. 

Stark warnings

Tree explained: “Dynamic open wood pasture systems are vital for our native wildlife. At Knepp, we are achieving tree regeneration with a minimum of human intervention.”

Her talk was thought-provoking and hopeful, and encouraged the idea of getting more trees in our landscape through this cheaper, more efficient and less polluting way. She backing up her argument with data accumulated since starting her project in 2000.

The conference also highlighted a worryingly under-researched area: the negative impact of human society on the fungi that plays a vital role in the health of our forests.

Dr Martin Bidartondo and his pan-European team have spent ten years investigating the often-overlooked relationship of the plant-fungal system.

Their work so far has shown excess man-made CO2 and nitrogen is overloading our woodlands and adversely affecting the delicate underground network that links tree roots. He had a stark warning that we continue to ignore this vital symbiosis at our peril.

It was not all doom and gloom, however. It was heartwarming to hear the uplifting enthusiasm of a group of school children from Hampshire. They eloquently represented Andover Trees United, which was founded by Wendy Davis to work closely with 25 schools and the community as part of a ten-year plan to create a woodland on a 44-acre patch of land.

Information corridor

Now at the half-way point, 5,000 trees have been planted in the Harmony Wood. Granted, against the scale of our arboreal deficiencies it’s a little acorn – only 10 percent of England is covered in woodland compared with an average 37 percent across the rest of Europe. But the youngsters’ interest has spread to their family and friends and forged a strong bond between these trees and their community.

The subject matter of environmental conferences tends to keep the mood sober and downbeat but Suzi Martineau and her team heading up the Frome meeting for the second year, maintained a flow of positive news that left the audience enthused about how communities can drive the change we need.

The idea of a wildlife corridor – linking habitats so that animals can move freely – is well known. The Tree Conference organisers have an ambitious aim to create an information corridor, offering training to support others in establishing Tree Conferences in the UK and beyond that can work together for maximum results.

The plan reflects the conference’s optimistic message that there are many routes to the over-arching aim: to encourage a love of and desire to protect our trees. There’s even a place for digging holes and planting them.

This Author 

Gary Cook is an environmental painter who was the senior artist for The Sunday Times for twenty six years. He exhibits regularly in the south west and London including with the Society of Graphic Fine Art, the RI, the RWA and The Arborealists. Gary tweets from @cookthepainter. 

The idea that planting trees is the wrong way to tackle our depleted woodlands is quite controversial. Expressing this opinion out loud at a Tree Conference is downright dangerous – but Isabella Tree, author of the book Wilding, was so persuasive that she’d convinced most of the audience by the end of her talk. 

Tree challenged the wisdom of the accepted concept and argued that letting trees seed naturally and grow up through brambles and scrub, which provides natural protection, is a more successful way to develop woodlands long term – and her book provides the compelling supporting evidence. 

In it, she tracks the inspirational story of how she and her husband Charlie Burrell undertook a daring experiment to rewild their Knepp Estate in West Sussex. After decades of intensive but unprofitable farming had left their 3,500 acres denuded, the land is now bursting with life – from critically endangered nightingales, turtle doves and purple emperor butterflies to rocketing populations of many other struggling species. 

Stark warnings

Tree explained: “Dynamic open wood pasture systems are vital for our native wildlife. At Knepp, we are achieving tree regeneration with a minimum of human intervention.”

Her talk was thought-provoking and hopeful, and encouraged the idea of getting more trees in our landscape through this cheaper, more efficient and less polluting way. She backing up her argument with data accumulated since starting her project in 2000.

The conference also highlighted a worryingly under-researched area: the negative impact of human society on the fungi that plays a vital role in the health of our forests.

Dr Martin Bidartondo and his pan-European team have spent ten years investigating the often-overlooked relationship of the plant-fungal system.

Their work so far has shown excess man-made CO2 and nitrogen is overloading our woodlands and adversely affecting the delicate underground network that links tree roots. He had a stark warning that we continue to ignore this vital symbiosis at our peril.

It was not all doom and gloom, however. It was heartwarming to hear the uplifting enthusiasm of a group of school children from Hampshire. They eloquently represented Andover Trees United, which was founded by Wendy Davis to work closely with 25 schools and the community as part of a ten-year plan to create a woodland on a 44-acre patch of land.

Information corridor

Now at the half-way point, 5,000 trees have been planted in the Harmony Wood. Granted, against the scale of our arboreal deficiencies it’s a little acorn – only 10 percent of England is covered in woodland compared with an average 37 percent across the rest of Europe. But the youngsters’ interest has spread to their family and friends and forged a strong bond between these trees and their community.

The subject matter of environmental conferences tends to keep the mood sober and downbeat but Suzi Martineau and her team heading up the Frome meeting for the second year, maintained a flow of positive news that left the audience enthused about how communities can drive the change we need.

The idea of a wildlife corridor – linking habitats so that animals can move freely – is well known. The Tree Conference organisers have an ambitious aim to create an information corridor, offering training to support others in establishing Tree Conferences in the UK and beyond that can work together for maximum results.

The plan reflects the conference’s optimistic message that there are many routes to the over-arching aim: to encourage a love of and desire to protect our trees. There’s even a place for digging holes and planting them.

This Author 

Gary Cook is an environmental painter who was the senior artist for The Sunday Times for twenty six years. He exhibits regularly in the south west and London including with the Society of Graphic Fine Art, the RI, the RWA and The Arborealists. Gary tweets from @cookthepainter. 

The idea that planting trees is the wrong way to tackle our depleted woodlands is quite controversial. Expressing this opinion out loud at a Tree Conference is downright dangerous – but Isabella Tree, author of the book Wilding, was so persuasive that she’d convinced most of the audience by the end of her talk. 

Tree challenged the wisdom of the accepted concept and argued that letting trees seed naturally and grow up through brambles and scrub, which provides natural protection, is a more successful way to develop woodlands long term – and her book provides the compelling supporting evidence. 

In it, she tracks the inspirational story of how she and her husband Charlie Burrell undertook a daring experiment to rewild their Knepp Estate in West Sussex. After decades of intensive but unprofitable farming had left their 3,500 acres denuded, the land is now bursting with life – from critically endangered nightingales, turtle doves and purple emperor butterflies to rocketing populations of many other struggling species. 

Stark warnings

Tree explained: “Dynamic open wood pasture systems are vital for our native wildlife. At Knepp, we are achieving tree regeneration with a minimum of human intervention.”

Her talk was thought-provoking and hopeful, and encouraged the idea of getting more trees in our landscape through this cheaper, more efficient and less polluting way. She backing up her argument with data accumulated since starting her project in 2000.

The conference also highlighted a worryingly under-researched area: the negative impact of human society on the fungi that plays a vital role in the health of our forests.

Dr Martin Bidartondo and his pan-European team have spent ten years investigating the often-overlooked relationship of the plant-fungal system.

Their work so far has shown excess man-made CO2 and nitrogen is overloading our woodlands and adversely affecting the delicate underground network that links tree roots. He had a stark warning that we continue to ignore this vital symbiosis at our peril.

It was not all doom and gloom, however. It was heartwarming to hear the uplifting enthusiasm of a group of school children from Hampshire. They eloquently represented Andover Trees United, which was founded by Wendy Davis to work closely with 25 schools and the community as part of a ten-year plan to create a woodland on a 44-acre patch of land.

Information corridor

Now at the half-way point, 5,000 trees have been planted in the Harmony Wood. Granted, against the scale of our arboreal deficiencies it’s a little acorn – only 10 percent of England is covered in woodland compared with an average 37 percent across the rest of Europe. But the youngsters’ interest has spread to their family and friends and forged a strong bond between these trees and their community.

The subject matter of environmental conferences tends to keep the mood sober and downbeat but Suzi Martineau and her team heading up the Frome meeting for the second year, maintained a flow of positive news that left the audience enthused about how communities can drive the change we need.

The idea of a wildlife corridor – linking habitats so that animals can move freely – is well known. The Tree Conference organisers have an ambitious aim to create an information corridor, offering training to support others in establishing Tree Conferences in the UK and beyond that can work together for maximum results.

The plan reflects the conference’s optimistic message that there are many routes to the over-arching aim: to encourage a love of and desire to protect our trees. There’s even a place for digging holes and planting them.

This Author 

Gary Cook is an environmental painter who was the senior artist for The Sunday Times for twenty six years. He exhibits regularly in the south west and London including with the Society of Graphic Fine Art, the RI, the RWA and The Arborealists. Gary tweets from @cookthepainter. 

The idea that planting trees is the wrong way to tackle our depleted woodlands is quite controversial. Expressing this opinion out loud at a Tree Conference is downright dangerous – but Isabella Tree, author of the book Wilding, was so persuasive that she’d convinced most of the audience by the end of her talk. 

Tree challenged the wisdom of the accepted concept and argued that letting trees seed naturally and grow up through brambles and scrub, which provides natural protection, is a more successful way to develop woodlands long term – and her book provides the compelling supporting evidence. 

In it, she tracks the inspirational story of how she and her husband Charlie Burrell undertook a daring experiment to rewild their Knepp Estate in West Sussex. After decades of intensive but unprofitable farming had left their 3,500 acres denuded, the land is now bursting with life – from critically endangered nightingales, turtle doves and purple emperor butterflies to rocketing populations of many other struggling species. 

Stark warnings

Tree explained: “Dynamic open wood pasture systems are vital for our native wildlife. At Knepp, we are achieving tree regeneration with a minimum of human intervention.”

Her talk was thought-provoking and hopeful, and encouraged the idea of getting more trees in our landscape through this cheaper, more efficient and less polluting way. She backing up her argument with data accumulated since starting her project in 2000.

The conference also highlighted a worryingly under-researched area: the negative impact of human society on the fungi that plays a vital role in the health of our forests.

Dr Martin Bidartondo and his pan-European team have spent ten years investigating the often-overlooked relationship of the plant-fungal system.

Their work so far has shown excess man-made CO2 and nitrogen is overloading our woodlands and adversely affecting the delicate underground network that links tree roots. He had a stark warning that we continue to ignore this vital symbiosis at our peril.

It was not all doom and gloom, however. It was heartwarming to hear the uplifting enthusiasm of a group of school children from Hampshire. They eloquently represented Andover Trees United, which was founded by Wendy Davis to work closely with 25 schools and the community as part of a ten-year plan to create a woodland on a 44-acre patch of land.

Information corridor

Now at the half-way point, 5,000 trees have been planted in the Harmony Wood. Granted, against the scale of our arboreal deficiencies it’s a little acorn – only 10 percent of England is covered in woodland compared with an average 37 percent across the rest of Europe. But the youngsters’ interest has spread to their family and friends and forged a strong bond between these trees and their community.

The subject matter of environmental conferences tends to keep the mood sober and downbeat but Suzi Martineau and her team heading up the Frome meeting for the second year, maintained a flow of positive news that left the audience enthused about how communities can drive the change we need.

The idea of a wildlife corridor – linking habitats so that animals can move freely – is well known. The Tree Conference organisers have an ambitious aim to create an information corridor, offering training to support others in establishing Tree Conferences in the UK and beyond that can work together for maximum results.

The plan reflects the conference’s optimistic message that there are many routes to the over-arching aim: to encourage a love of and desire to protect our trees. There’s even a place for digging holes and planting them.

This Author 

Gary Cook is an environmental painter who was the senior artist for The Sunday Times for twenty six years. He exhibits regularly in the south west and London including with the Society of Graphic Fine Art, the RI, the RWA and The Arborealists. Gary tweets from @cookthepainter. 

The idea that planting trees is the wrong way to tackle our depleted woodlands is quite controversial. Expressing this opinion out loud at a Tree Conference is downright dangerous – but Isabella Tree, author of the book Wilding, was so persuasive that she’d convinced most of the audience by the end of her talk. 

Tree challenged the wisdom of the accepted concept and argued that letting trees seed naturally and grow up through brambles and scrub, which provides natural protection, is a more successful way to develop woodlands long term – and her book provides the compelling supporting evidence. 

In it, she tracks the inspirational story of how she and her husband Charlie Burrell undertook a daring experiment to rewild their Knepp Estate in West Sussex. After decades of intensive but unprofitable farming had left their 3,500 acres denuded, the land is now bursting with life – from critically endangered nightingales, turtle doves and purple emperor butterflies to rocketing populations of many other struggling species. 

Stark warnings

Tree explained: “Dynamic open wood pasture systems are vital for our native wildlife. At Knepp, we are achieving tree regeneration with a minimum of human intervention.”

Her talk was thought-provoking and hopeful, and encouraged the idea of getting more trees in our landscape through this cheaper, more efficient and less polluting way. She backing up her argument with data accumulated since starting her project in 2000.

The conference also highlighted a worryingly under-researched area: the negative impact of human society on the fungi that plays a vital role in the health of our forests.

Dr Martin Bidartondo and his pan-European team have spent ten years investigating the often-overlooked relationship of the plant-fungal system.

Their work so far has shown excess man-made CO2 and nitrogen is overloading our woodlands and adversely affecting the delicate underground network that links tree roots. He had a stark warning that we continue to ignore this vital symbiosis at our peril.

It was not all doom and gloom, however. It was heartwarming to hear the uplifting enthusiasm of a group of school children from Hampshire. They eloquently represented Andover Trees United, which was founded by Wendy Davis to work closely with 25 schools and the community as part of a ten-year plan to create a woodland on a 44-acre patch of land.

Information corridor

Now at the half-way point, 5,000 trees have been planted in the Harmony Wood. Granted, against the scale of our arboreal deficiencies it’s a little acorn – only 10 percent of England is covered in woodland compared with an average 37 percent across the rest of Europe. But the youngsters’ interest has spread to their family and friends and forged a strong bond between these trees and their community.

The subject matter of environmental conferences tends to keep the mood sober and downbeat but Suzi Martineau and her team heading up the Frome meeting for the second year, maintained a flow of positive news that left the audience enthused about how communities can drive the change we need.

The idea of a wildlife corridor – linking habitats so that animals can move freely – is well known. The Tree Conference organisers have an ambitious aim to create an information corridor, offering training to support others in establishing Tree Conferences in the UK and beyond that can work together for maximum results.

The plan reflects the conference’s optimistic message that there are many routes to the over-arching aim: to encourage a love of and desire to protect our trees. There’s even a place for digging holes and planting them.

This Author 

Gary Cook is an environmental painter who was the senior artist for The Sunday Times for twenty six years. He exhibits regularly in the south west and London including with the Society of Graphic Fine Art, the RI, the RWA and The Arborealists. Gary tweets from @cookthepainter. 

The idea that planting trees is the wrong way to tackle our depleted woodlands is quite controversial. Expressing this opinion out loud at a Tree Conference is downright dangerous – but Isabella Tree, author of the book Wilding, was so persuasive that she’d convinced most of the audience by the end of her talk. 

Tree challenged the wisdom of the accepted concept and argued that letting trees seed naturally and grow up through brambles and scrub, which provides natural protection, is a more successful way to develop woodlands long term – and her book provides the compelling supporting evidence. 

In it, she tracks the inspirational story of how she and her husband Charlie Burrell undertook a daring experiment to rewild their Knepp Estate in West Sussex. After decades of intensive but unprofitable farming had left their 3,500 acres denuded, the land is now bursting with life – from critically endangered nightingales, turtle doves and purple emperor butterflies to rocketing populations of many other struggling species. 

Stark warnings

Tree explained: “Dynamic open wood pasture systems are vital for our native wildlife. At Knepp, we are achieving tree regeneration with a minimum of human intervention.”

Her talk was thought-provoking and hopeful, and encouraged the idea of getting more trees in our landscape through this cheaper, more efficient and less polluting way. She backing up her argument with data accumulated since starting her project in 2000.

The conference also highlighted a worryingly under-researched area: the negative impact of human society on the fungi that plays a vital role in the health of our forests.

Dr Martin Bidartondo and his pan-European team have spent ten years investigating the often-overlooked relationship of the plant-fungal system.

Their work so far has shown excess man-made CO2 and nitrogen is overloading our woodlands and adversely affecting the delicate underground network that links tree roots. He had a stark warning that we continue to ignore this vital symbiosis at our peril.

It was not all doom and gloom, however. It was heartwarming to hear the uplifting enthusiasm of a group of school children from Hampshire. They eloquently represented Andover Trees United, which was founded by Wendy Davis to work closely with 25 schools and the community as part of a ten-year plan to create a woodland on a 44-acre patch of land.

Information corridor

Now at the half-way point, 5,000 trees have been planted in the Harmony Wood. Granted, against the scale of our arboreal deficiencies it’s a little acorn – only 10 percent of England is covered in woodland compared with an average 37 percent across the rest of Europe. But the youngsters’ interest has spread to their family and friends and forged a strong bond between these trees and their community.

The subject matter of environmental conferences tends to keep the mood sober and downbeat but Suzi Martineau and her team heading up the Frome meeting for the second year, maintained a flow of positive news that left the audience enthused about how communities can drive the change we need.

The idea of a wildlife corridor – linking habitats so that animals can move freely – is well known. The Tree Conference organisers have an ambitious aim to create an information corridor, offering training to support others in establishing Tree Conferences in the UK and beyond that can work together for maximum results.

The plan reflects the conference’s optimistic message that there are many routes to the over-arching aim: to encourage a love of and desire to protect our trees. There’s even a place for digging holes and planting them.

This Author 

Gary Cook is an environmental painter who was the senior artist for The Sunday Times for twenty six years. He exhibits regularly in the south west and London including with the Society of Graphic Fine Art, the RI, the RWA and The Arborealists. Gary tweets from @cookthepainter.