AS part of a five-year commitment to nature restoration across the UK’s national parks, a cosmetics company is supporting an innovative woodland project in the South Downs National Park.
Estée Lauder has pledged £100,000 to the South Downs project, with the global company guaranteeing a further £300,000 to be spent on other nature restoration projects throughout the UK’s national parks over the next three years.
Funding will go towards the design of an innovative woodland creation financing platform, with the aim of developing more than 5,000 hectares of interconnected native woodland habitats.
The initiative is being delivered by UK nature restoration facility, Revere, as a collaboration between National Parks UK and Palladium.
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A key element of the South Downs woodland initiative is that it will enable different landowners and tenant farmers of varying landholding sizes to participate in the woodland creation, rather than only prioritising the large estates.
At a time when many farmers are facing financial difficulty, the model hopes to create a reliable source of additional income through the sale of carbon credits and other ecosystem services.
Once established, the South Downs woodland initiative will contribute to the UK's journey to achieving net zero by using woodland creations to store greenhouse gases.
Sue Fox, president of The Estée Lauder Companies UK and Ireland said: “We are very proud to continue our multi-year partnership with Revere and support pioneering nature restoration projects in the UK’s beautiful National Parks. And with the South Downs being so close to our Petersfield office, we look forward to getting our staff out into the Park volunteering – the perfect way for them to see for themselves the work that we are supporting”
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Trevor Beattie, chief executive of the South Downs National Park Authority, said: “Woodland makes up almost a quarter of the South Downs National Park and this incredible treescape provides vital habitats for so many plants and animals, as well as being a huge ‘carbon sink’ for the southeast of England.
“As part of our ReNature initiative, we want bigger, more joined-up woodland habitats. This innovative partnership is a significant step forward to achieving our long-term goal of reversing biodiversity decline and being more resilient to climate change.”
Andrew Sutherland, Palladium director of nature-based solutions, said: “We have to restore our natural habitats—quickly and at scale—and private finance is essential. That’s why Palladium brings together organisations like The Estée Lauder Companies UK & Ireland with authorities like UK National Parks, landowners, and communities to overcome the barriers that block large-scale investment into nature restoration. The South Downs woodland creation platform will enable more landowners and farmers to participate in woodland creation, transforming the pace and scale of this work for years to come.”
The funding of the South Downs Woodland platform is the second Revere innovation project supported by ELC, the first being a study into water quality in the Lake District.
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