Volunteer-led rewilding projects are helping restore degraded habitats in Australian cities, providing opportunities to connect with the planet and others

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For Stephen Northey, an environmental advocate in Melbourne, tree planting and urban revegetation has allowed him to help restore degraded local ecosystems and foster a much-needed connection with his local area.

The community leader spearheaded a campaign to save Edgars Creek, a tributary that runs through the basalt plains linking Epping, Thomastown and Reservoir to Merri Creek in Melbourne’s northern suburbs.

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Researchers found that the Victorians brought so many seeds and saplings to Britain that the trees now outnumber those in their US homeland

Three redwoods tower over Wakehurst’s Elizabethan mansion like skyscrapers. Yet at 40 metres (131ft) high, these are almost saplings – not even 150 years old and less than half the height of the Statue of Liberty.

“At the moment they’re some of the tallest trees in the UK and they are starting to poke above the forest canopy. But if they grow to their full potential, they’re going to be three times taller than most trees,” says Dr Phil Wilkes, part of the research team at Wakehurst, in West Sussex, an outpost of Kew Gardens. One or two of these California imports would be curiosities, such as the 100-metre high redwood that was stripped of its bark in 1854 and exhibited to Victorian crowds at the Crystal Palace in south-east London, until it was destroyed by fire in 1866 .

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Five years in the making, We Are Guardians takes a hard look at the complexity of the struggle between Indigenous people, loggers and ranchers

A UN report in 2021 described the Indigenous peoples of Latin America as the “best guardians” of the rainforests. Now, a new documentary, We Are Guardians , tells the story of those in Brazil fighting to protect their land from deforestation.

The film, which premiered on Netflix in Latin America, is due to be screened in London on 15 March as part of the Human Rights Watch film festival . It is co-directed by the Indigenous Brazilian activist Edivan Guajajara and the environmental journalists Rob Grobman and Chelsea Greene. Leonardo DiCaprio was an executive producer.

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Thousands of farmers have been persuaded by TREES scheme to replace barren monocultures with biodiverse forest gardens

In a world of monoculture cash crops, an innovative African project is persuading farmers to plant biodiverse forest gardens that feed the family, protect the soil and expand tree cover.

Could Trees for the Future (TREES) be a rare example of a mass reforestation campaign that actually works? The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) certainly thinks so and last month awarded it the status of World Restoration Flagship .

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Authorities asked to step in to protect Black-a-Tor Copse, an ancient temperate rainforest in Devon at risk from overgrazing

There are acorns galore and tiny oaks sprouting from tussocky grass beside the gnarled ancient trees of Black-a-Tor Copse on the northern slopes of Dartmoor national park.

But each tiny sapling grows no higher than a sheep’s chin and there it stays, its new shoots and tender leaves repeatedly shorn each spring by the livestock roaming through this national nature reserve.

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‘Magnificent’ tree in Lilliput, Poole, planted more than 50 years ago, became an attraction due to its pink flowers

A magnolia tree believed to be Britain’s tallest has been felled after it was found to be in decay.

It was feared the 18-metre (60ft) tree, which attracted visitors to the area when it bloomed, would fall and damage the house in Poole, Dorset in whose garden it stood – or neighbouring properties.

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Researchers hope the findings will inform policymakers planning cities for a warming world

Few things are as soothing on a hot summer’s day as a walk through a beautiful botanical garden, but they are not just oases of calm. As climate breakdown fuels soaring temperatures, they could prove crucial in moderating the heat in the streets around them.

A comprehensive review of research into the heat-mitigating effects of green spaces during heatwaves has found that botanical gardens are the most effective. It is a finding the team at the Global Centre for Clean Air Research (GCCAR) hope will inform policymakers planning cities for a warming world.

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Communities such as the Saamaka are vocal in opposition to increased mining and logging – but has the country’s claim to fame as the most forested in the world already been fatally undermined?

• Photographs by Bram Ebus

“Welcome to Suriname – the most forested country in the world!” reads a billboard above the entrance of Suriname’s international airport terminal. Numerous signs remind travellers that more than 90% of its territory is covered by lush jungle, and the country takes pride in its environmental track record.

However, legal and illegal gold mining and expanding logging operations increasingly threaten this statistic, putting forests at risk and undermining the rights of tribal and Indigenous people to the land.

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A shrine to Spain’s great writers has become the latest flashpoint in a battle to save a thousand mature trees that stand in the way of building works

The Plaza de Santa Ana, which sits at the heart of Madrid’s literary quarter, is home to statues of Spain’s two greatest dramatists – Pedro Calderón de la Barca and Federico García Lorca – as well as one of the many bars where Ernest Hemingway did battle with his thirst. It is also home to dozens of trees that are already beginning to bud in anticipation of spring.

The question on residents’ minds is how many more springs the trees will see. In recent weeks, the neighbourhood has become the latest flashpoint in a series of protests against the felling of mature trees during key building works in the Spanish capital.

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