The Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority has this week publicly pledged to help counter the effects of climate change by signing up to a national initiative.

The YDNPA has joined more than 200 other organisations in supporting the Nottingham Declaration on Climate Change, a voluntary pledge to address the issues surrounding global warming.

The impact of climate change is the most critical issue facing the Authority

Carl Lis - YDNPA

Chairman Carl Lis said: "The impact of climate change is the most critical issue facing the Authority. It will affect every aspect of what we do as an organisation. But, more importantly, it will also affect the environment and the communities right across the 680 square miles of uplands that make up the National Park.

"That land - and the people that manage it - will have a vital role in terms of the way it can potentially be used to help mitigate climate change and its effects. For example, creating new woodlands to absorb carbon and provide woodfuel, or restoring degraded moorland to lock in carbon and help reduce flooding downstream."

Authority member Deborah Millward added: "We have a view in the YDNPA that there are some individuals, organisations and communities within the National Park who are ahead of the Authority in terms of wanting to do something about the impact they have on their environment.

"We will be asking them what they are doing in relation to climate change so we can showcase their achievements in a special edition of Dales 2008 - the YDNPA's newspaper for National Park residents.

"At the same time, we will be doing what we can to help them develop their ideas so that they can play a part in conserving this very special and vulnerable landscape."