On the back of widespread declarations of Climate and Ecological Emergency in 2019, the AONB Partnership held a major discussion about the Emergency, and sent the resulting recommendations to Shropshire Council and Telford & Wrekin Council.
Environment & Climate Emergency Recommendations
Our climate work has continued through community-led climate-action groups and the AONB Family’s Climate Change Collaborative Group, which shares information and case studies, and is developing recommendations for AONBs.
Nature-based solutions and agriculture are core areas for AONBs and where our work has climate benefits, but we need to quantify this better and do more of it.
Most of the discussion about tackling climate change is rightly focused on cutting CO2 emissions. But with land we have other greenhouse gases to think of, methane and nitrous oxide, as well as carbon sequestration, and of course adapting to changes in climate.
Shropshire Hills Climate Action Plan, March 2023
AONBs offer the qualities of our landscapes themselves, as well as the capacity of the organisations linked to them. They can be:
- Reservoirs of carbon storage and robust ecosystems, delivering nature-based climate solutions alongside nature recovery and sustainable productive land use
- Havens for people’s connection with nature, for their health and wellbeing, and of hope and inspiration for everyone
- Models of sustainability – in land management, communities and economies, and models of collaboration – with inclusive processes and management planning
- Interconnected – with the areas around them, and with national and international networks seeking solutions to the biggest challenges facing our world.
