seedling-header
Collaboration
with a cause

Nature is under stress. In EQ tree we are applying our collaboration expertise to find solutions. We are working with experts, landowners and sponsors to improve biodiversity and involve communities in projects that create spaces for people to breathe, spaces for nature to thrive.

Our corporate partners and funding sponsors are matched with projects that contribute to their Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) commitments. The benefits include carbon credits, biodiversity credits and opportunities to involve their people for greater wellbeing.

We work with public and private landowners who wish their land to be dedicated to enhancing these natural ecosystems. Wherever possible we find marginal and peri-urban land, or work with farmers who wish to adapt their agricultural practices to encourage biodiversity.

These projects need to be given long term support to be successful. We seek partners who can commit to these timescales, and we engage local communities to be involved in their care. The beauty is that being outside and caring for nature returns health, education and social benefits for everybody involved. If we nurture nature, nature nurtures us.

Our Expert Partner

Our strategic partner is the Woodmeadow Trust – the only charitable organisation in the UK that specialises in these extraordinarily diverse habitats – a mosaic comprising wildflower meadow, wooded areas, ponds and niches for plants and animals.

Their flagship site Three Hagges Woodmeadow, in Escrick near York, was originally a barley field. In 2012 they planted 24 species of native trees, 7 shrub species and seeded with wildflower mixes. By 2020 the trees were established and they had recorded 160 meadow species, over 1000 invertebrate species plus small mammals, amphibians, reptiles, birds and bats.

The whole community is engaged in this flagship project, providing outdoor education for families and young people with school visits, citizen science and family activity days. The project promotes local community cohesion and wellbeing and combats loneliness through their volunteer programme.

The woodmeadow initiative is being extended nationally, supporting community groups, councils, private landowners and other organisations to create independent woodmeadow projects across the country.

Our Services

We provide a consultancy and project management service to support a project. Bringing together corporate funding, public or private land and the expertise to ensure the project enhances biodiversity appropriately for the local ecology.

We encourage you to visit the Woodmeadow Trust’s flagship site at Three Hagges woodmeadow, to feel inspired about how woodmeadow brings the land back to life.  

Sourcing land can be difficult and time consuming because of land competition – we can help you by engaging local contacts including:
  • Local councils (city, county, parish) to review their land strategy
  • Private landowners who wish to dedicate their land for biodiversity
  • Farmers who wish to adapt their practices to encourage biodiversity
There is a myriad of funding, both public and private – we can help you by advising on your options including:
  • Government funding for tree planting
  • Business sponsorship to meet Environment, Social & Governance (ESG) commitments
  • How to sell carbon credits
  • How to sell biodiversity credits
Woodmeadow matures with time so engaging a community and local expertise to help care for it makes sense – we can help you:
  • Replicate the model of community involvement that has been successful at Three Hagges Woodmeadow
  • Identify the community influencers you need to involve (local experts, volunteer groups, charities, schools)
  • Provide educational resources, advice and guidance
Forming the organisation and establishing the collaboration between contributors is essential – we can help by:
  • Advising on the model for the community group (trust, charity or community benefit society) so that you have formal governance and commercials
  • Reviewing the expectations and needs of all parties to agree roles and contributions
  • Drafting an agreement between you
 
Delivering a vision appropriate to your project site, needs careful planning and ongoing management – we can help by:
  • Guiding the site assessment to review the ecology and to baseline biodiversity
  • Facilitating conversations to create a vision for the project
  • Tailoring a design to suit local ecological conditions and advising on appropriate trees and seeds
  • Guiding the planting and advising volunteers on maintenance
Ensuring successful outcomes requires regular monitoring and maintenance – we can help by:
  • Providing expert advice as the site develops
  • Scheduling reviews of trees and biodiversity
  • Providing data to quantify carbon sequestration and biodiversity net gains
To sell biodiversity net gain credits you will need to commit to managing the site for 30 years.

The Facts

We lost 97% of our wildflower meadows between 1930s and 1984, 90% of our coppiced woodlands between 1900 and 1970 and 75,000 miles of hedgerow was lost between WW2 and the 1990s.

The UK Biodiversity Indicators 2020 (Defra), reported that the abundance of 2,890 priority species, had declined by 36% compared to a 1970 baseline. The distribution of these priority species had also declined by 28%.

Biodiversity is important for storing carbon, especially where there is mixed, native woodland, peatland and natural grasslands (Natural England report 2021 – Carbon storage and sequestration by habitat, Ruth Gregg and Mike Morecroft).

In 2023, legislation resulting from the UK Environment Bill will require land developers to demonstrate a 10% biodiversity net gain.

55% of global GDP can be linked to biodiversity
and will be affected by its decline.