The Woodland Trust, a charity which manages over 1,000 woods in the UK, will today demand that all three main political parties make the future of our forests a key issue in the forth coming election.

The trust is launching its “Growing for the Future” manifesto to ensure the UK’s native woods and trees take firm root in the General Election debate.

It is calling on all political parties to adopt a target of doubling native woodland cover in the UK over the next 50 years, in order to realise the potential of woods to tackle a wide range of policy challenges in one of the least wooded countries in Europe.

It argues that such a commitment should be part of the wider strategy for tackling climate change mitigation and adaptations, protecting vulnerable wildlife habitats, improving public health – both physical and mental – and shaping places in which people want to live, work and spend their leisure time.

In our Week in the Country feature tomorrow, we will discuss major plans to re-forest Britain – mainly drawn up by charities and volunteer workers, including the children at 250 schools aiming to re-plant thousands of elm trees.