Pupils plant hedgerows in a bid to tackle Climate Change
Secondary school pupils in Caerphilly County Borough are planting hedgerows in a bid to tackle climate change and to celebrate National Tree Week (28th November – 6th December).
For the 3rd year running, CCBC Countryside service are working with local schools and residents to help combat the effects of climate change. In the last 2 years, nearly 10,000 trees have been planted in the county borough as part of the Climate Emergency Hedgerow Planting project.
This year, Ysgol Gyfun Cwm Rhymni, St Cenydd School, Heolddu Comprehensive and Lewis School Pengam are grabbing their spades to plant another 3,000 trees as they create new hedgerows on their school grounds.
In 2019 the Council became the second Local Authority in Gwent to declare a climate emergency and commit to becoming carbon neutral by 2030. The annual ‘hedgerows of hope’ project led by the Council’s Countryside Rangers service works to support this by planting trees and hedgerows to help absorb carbon.
Trees help to remove greenhouse gases and carbon dioxide from the air, which reduces the effects of global warming. Over many years, trees have been cut and removed in Wales leaving only 16% woodland cover, compared with most European countries that have 30%.
Cllr Andrew Whitcombe, Cabinet Member for Sustainability commented, “Tackling climate change, increasing sustainability and protecting our environment for future generations is a key priority for the Council and we are undertaking significant work to deal with this issue. Projects like those being delivered by our Ranger service are important not only in helping our environment, but also in engaging our young people and local communities; raising awareness of the issue of climate change and the role we all have to play in addressing it.”