LEADING conservationists are proposing the creation of a new woodland which would link the Forest of Dean with Gwent and Worcestershire as part of a number of ’natural solutions’ to tackle the climate crisis.

To coincide with COP26 in Glasgow this month, Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust (GWT) has published a new report which highlights the solutions already being undertaken in the county to tackle the crisis, as well as the need to "urgently scale up" works with an "ambitious" green recovery plan.

One idea is to create a new woodland, resulting in up to three million new trees, to link the Forest of Dean with Wentwood in Gwent and Wyre Forest in Worcestershire.

The idea is being developed by local partnership Severn Treescapes (ST), which has identified a "huge" cross boundary region for woodland creation and enhancement, including around 300km2 in Gloucestershire.

The identified region straddles the England-Wales border, including the Forest of Dean and lower Wye Valley woodlands.

GWT says the region is "incredibly important" for wildlife and contains many internationally and nationally designated sites and threatened species, as well as playing an important role for people both recreationally and economically.

But the trust says that "intensively farmed" land has separated the area from important woodlands around Dymock and across the county border in the Malverns and Wyre Forest.

The partners say this has created a "critical gap" in the spacial plan for the Government’s Nature Recovery Network, which brings together partners from "wildlife-rich" places across the UK to "restore and enhance" the natural environment.

It is hoped that a five per cent increase in woodland cover within the region would result in three million new trees, which would capture thousands of tonnes of carbon every year.

GWT says the new trees would also help deliver Gloucestershire County Council’s individual target of planting one million trees by 2030.

Other proposed solutions in the report include calls for all major housing developments in the county to meet GWT’s ’Building with Nature’ standards, normalising natural flood management approaches and the creation of large new nature spaces where people live, with the aim of cutting car journeys and relieving pressure on sensitive wildlife areas.

CEO of GWT, Roger Mortlock, said: "What we choose to do next could change everything. That’s why we’ve pulled this report together.

"There’s an opportunity to forge an ambitious green recovery plan for the county - creating new green jobs, securing the survival and prosperity of future generations and mobilising nature to tackle the climate emergency.

"We are going to need a co-ordinated effort across the county, not least from farmers and landowners who could well be the heroes of the climate emergency in Gloucestershire.

"COP26 in Glasgow has highlighted the need to respond urgently and to scale up the work we and others have led in the county demonstrating how nature can help."

The trust, which celebrated its 60th anniversary last Saturday (November 6), says that the next 10 years are "critical" to stop and reverse declines in nature.

It says the climate and ecological crises are "inextricably linked", with nature disappearing faster than at any other point in human history, and that Gloucestershire residents are "ill-equipped" to reduce carbon emissions and adapt to change because of the loss of wildlife and wild spaces in the county.

It is calling for investment in nature-based solutions, a new ’Wildbelt’ designation to help create new space for wildlife, and for 30 per cent of the county’s land managed for wildlife by 2030.

The full report on the impacts of climate change in Gloucestershire can be found at www.gloucestershirewildlifetrust.co.uk/climate-change-in-gloucestershire.