Wildwoods is a term that was originally coined by Oliver Rackham to describe the natural forested landscape of Britain after the last glacial maximum approximately 11,000 years ago. Here, in the eighth article in the Wilding for Conservation series, Ellie Crane explores the role that new wildwoods could play in the UK’s efforts to tackle climate change.
The protection, expansion and sustainable management of woodland is widely understood to be a critical part of reducing global net carbon emissions to zero, as well as reversing the biodiversity crisis (e.g. COP26 2021). The term ‘woodland’ can describe a wide range of tree-dominated habitats, even within a UK context (see box on p. 491).