COMMUNITIES FOR NATURE
Woodland Savers works with local communities across the UK to help them buy and manage woodlands for nature recovery, protecting them for current and future generations.
HOW IT WORKS
Our model is rooted in community action, balancing local heritage and aspirations with national expertise on land management and community business.
We help communities to crowdfund, doubling amounts raised from the Woodland Savers Match Fund (created with Esmee Fairbairn Foundation), and completed by other partner impact investors.
Collaborating with Woodland Savers means joining a dynamic nationwide network of community woodlands projects, a fellowship of insight, resources and support.
“Though rich in places, Britain as a whole is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world. Never has there been a more important time to invest in our own wildlife, to try and set an example for the rest of the world, and restore our once wild isles for future generations.”
Sir David Attenborough, 2023
COMMUNITIES
Woodland Savers gives local people a chance to own and protect nature on their doorstep. We reconnect people to their local wild places, which provides a range of social, physical and mental health benefits. Nature-positive revenue streams then allow communities to cover their costs which supports woodland management, local skills and livelihoods.
NATURE
Our woodland management principles enable sustainable ecosystems to thrive. Each Woodland Management Plan will recognise unique local characteristics, and be developed in close consultation with local communities, transferring skills to them in the process.
OUR PLANET
Ensuring the long-term protection of woodlands, wetlands and heaths, will enable the sequestration of carbon from the ground and atmosphere as well as promote the recovery of insects, birds, mammals, waterways and soil health.
TIME FOR NATURE RECOVERY
The UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world. And yet we are a nation of nature lovers.
Biodiversity levels have declined by more than 70% since 1970 and woodland cover is at 13.3%, compared to a European average of 38% (notwithstanding differences in population density). Tree cover in the UK is increasing but too slowly to meet our decarbonisation goals: the Government is failing to meet its target of 300,000 Ha per year, in order to reach net zero by 2050.
Britain also ranks bottom in Europe for nature connectedness. Out of 14 nations surveyed, UK citizens measured lowest for their oneness with the natural world.
MEET THE TEAM
In September 2021, the idea for Woodland Savers was born when co-founders, media lawyer Tamsin Allen, eco filmmaker Franny Armstrong and television director Adam Wishart, crowdfunded £500k to buy and reunite three lots of ancient woodland in Devon.
Since then, the team, their funders and advisors have been working to enable more communities to reclaim their local woodlands and protect them for generations to come.
