Primary school pupils and volunteer groups in Caerphilly county borough are planting 5,000 trees from 7-11 of March to celebrate Tree Planting Week and in a bid to tackle climate change.

The tree planting is being arranged by the Green Spaces group and is the start of Caerphilly’s decarbonisation journey to support local habitats, biodiversity and contributes to the Welsh Governments tree planting ambitions.

Pupils from Ystrad Mynach College and Ystrad Mynach Primary School will join Caerphilly County Borough Council’s Countryside Rangers at Ynys Hywel Farm, in Wattsville.

In 2019 the Council became only the second in Gwent to declare a climate emergency and commit to becoming carbon neutral by 2030. By planting trees during Tree Planting Week, the authority works to support this declaration as trees help absorb carbon.

Trees help to remove the greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide from the air helping to reduce 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 said, “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 that are brought on by events such as Tree Planting Week 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.”