West Midlands Greener Together Forum blog
Welcome to our new blog delving into the work of the newly-formed West Midlands Greener Together Forum.
Over the coming weeks we will be giving you insight into the Forum which aims to create a fairer, greener and healthier West Midlands.
We chose Earth Day 2022 as the perfect opportunity for us to launch our blog to tell you more about the Forum which gives an opportunity for the public, community groups, charities and organisations to come together.
The theme for Earth Day 2022 is Invest in Our Planet and we think this year in particular it is so important to put something back into our local communities, especially as the eyes of the world will be on the West Midlands ahead of the Commonwealth Games this summer.
Read our latest blogs below
What is the Forum all about?
The idea for creating the Forum came from the West Midlands Climate Coalition group which asked West Midlands Combined Authority to create an open and inclusive space for discussion around the climate and ecological crisis.
The Forum will convene four times a year to discuss important environmental topics and how as a group we can progress the ideas/projects raised in these meetings.
Our first meeting took place on 31 March and we were joined by 50 people from across the West Midlands. We discussed what everyone wants to achieve through the forum and how the members wanted the group to run.
The second half of the meeting focused on examples of the excellent tree planting schemes taking place in the region; we heard presentations from The Woodland Trust, Severn Trent, the WMCA, Birmingham Tree People and Solihull Council on the tree-planting projects they have underway and how everyone can get involved.
The Combined Authority has been behind the Right Tree Right Place campaign to support tree and hedge planting across the region. All we ask is that when you plant a tree you log in as part of our Virtual Forest which has seen over 88,000 trees registered so far.
How you can join the Forum
The aim of the Forum is to create a group of people who are passionate about addressing important environmental issues within the West Midlands and work together to tackle them. By becoming involved in the Forum, there will be the opportunity for you to have a regional platform to discuss and progress environmental projects. You will be connected with other people/organisations who may be able to support and hear from others to provide inspiration.
The Forum will be instrumental in bringing regional stakeholders together and will have an important role in driving forward the changes needed to tackle the climate emergency.
We will post the link to the next Forum event in September here at a later date.