woodland in the transition to a low carbon society

Habitat International 90 (2019) 101988

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Sustainable management of native landscape / woodland in the transition to a low carbon society

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Amira Elnokaly∗, Mark Thomas School of Architecture and the Built Environment, University of Lincoln, UK

ARTICLE INFO

ABSTRACT

Keywords: Social enterprise Management Sustainable development Low carbon society Environmental awareness Sustainable building strategies

The losses of natural and native landscape, mostly to agricultural practices are a significant concern for both atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gasses and biodiversity. This paper conducts a critical analytical review of Hill Holt Wood (HHW) a Social Enterprise in the UK in light of criteria derived from recommendations identified and compiled by the UN, Intergovernmental and the UK Forestry Commission. Identifying successful strategies from the HHW experience, the paper's objective is to establish a future framework that can be adapted and adopted following contextual and cultural identities in order to provide a legacy to assist in the appropriate management of our natural landscape. In an attempt to accelerate the transition to a low carbon society, the paper concludes by inaugurating the lessons learnt from the HHW model into “A Framework Legacy for the Appropriate Management of Natural Landscape and Woodlands”, contributing to the current body of literature, providing a tool to be used by varied users to encourage and affect changes in individual and national behavior and impacting policymakers. The paper is valuable in assembling and analysing the diverse benefits of the HHW initiative and the lessons learnt; including social, economic and environmental positive outcomes of the project.

1. Introduction The area of woodland in the UK in March 2018 was estimated to be 3.17 million hectares, representing 13% of the total land area in the UK; 10% in England, 15% in Wales, 19% in Scotland and 8% in Northern Ireland (Forestry Commission, 2018). Harmful human activity such as industrialisation, deforestation and other anthropogenic activities have contributed towards radiative forcing resulting in ocean warming, diminishing glaciers, rising sea levels, concentrations of greenhouse gases and adverse weather conditions (IPCC, 2013). Today, atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases have increased to the most unprecedented levels since pre-industrial times (IPCC, 2013). In addition, urbanization and deforestation is increasingly diminishing our contact with native landscape space destroying 98% of our ancient woodlands (Tickell, 2000). With the stark warning that “no one on this planet is going to be untouched by the impacts of climate change” and that “the resilience of many ecosystems is likely to be exceeded” by the “unprecedented combination of climate change and its associated consequences such as flooding, drought, wildfires, insects and ocean acidification, along with other global change drivers” urgent action is needed to reduce the manmade impacts of human-induced climatic change (Elseragy, Elnokaly, & Abul-Ela, 2018; IPCC, 2007, Strurrock et al, 2011) Pachauri and Reisinger, 2007. ∗

In this paper, native or natural landscape and woodlands are referred to as a low-density forest. These formsopen habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade, allowing the growth for an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses. Native tree and shrub species provide much of our native wildlife with its natural habitats, supporting our ecosystem, so are a valuable part of Britain's and the world's nature and native landscapes. This is why we seek to maintain sustainable woodland management and native trees and shrubs in our woods. Over the last few centuries the destruction of native landscapes in favour of agricultural land has been so severe that many of our ancient woodlands have been destroyed to the point where “only two per cent of ancient woodland remains today” (Tickell, 2000). A key factor of deforestation related to urbanization often starts with highway and road construction. Even though, road-construction itself will not lead to major deforestation, it paves the way for farmers, loggers and the agriculture industry who can slash and burn the remaining forest for cropland or cattle pasture to supply the food resource demand that is needed with urbanization (Earth Observatory, 2009). For example, two main studies by Pearce (1991) and Perz et al. (2008) identified that the construction industry driven by road development as a major driver of Amazon deforestation. This deforestation due to human land use is argued to further continue in the future (Laurance et al., 2001; Soares-

Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (A. Elnokaly), [email protected] (M. Thomas).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2019.05.007 Received 10 January 2019; Received in revised form 21 April 2019; Accepted 14 May 2019 Available online 05 June 2019 0197-3975/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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Filho et al., 2006) causing negative ecological consequences (Bierregaard et al., 2001). Hence, raising questions about governments' legislations towards deforestation and the factual drivers of forest clearing and fragmentation (Gutman et al., 2004; Lambin & Geist 2006). Deforestation is not the only threat to woodland; rising global temperatures further facilitate outbreaks of forestry diseases which are predicted to become more frequent and intense as anthropogenic warming continues to influence many of our physical and biological systems (IPCC, 2007; Strurrock et al, 2011; Pachauri and Reisinger, 2007). Exacerbated by anthropogenic forcing, rising global temperatures, and carbon dioxide emissions all continue to facilitate further significant and damaging environmental processes, particularly ocean acidification. Such processes threateni marine ecosystems and the futures of the millions of people that depend on fish for food (Solomon, 2007). Natural landscapes play an important role in the global carbon balance, with deforestation causing large releases of carbon from both soil and vegetation to substantially increase atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gasses (Tinker, Ingram, & Struwe, 1996)(Spaul and Evans, 2008), Raich and Schlesinger, 1992. Natural landscapes are regarded as ‘the lungs of the planet’, providing the necessary oxygen and absorbing carbon dioxide. Pondering the largest tropical rainforest, the Amazon Forest as an example, it supplies more than 20% of the world's oxygen needs and locks up 11 years of carbon dioxide emissions (Bulter, 2007). Deforestation is responsible for about 10% of all anthropogenic CO2 emissions globally and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change foresees that by reducing deforestation and degradation completely carbon dioxide emissions would reduce 5.8 Gt CO2 by 2030 (UNFCCC, 2010). Today the consequences of anthropogenic forcing are well known and the National Science Academies of all G8 member states, along with five other nations urge “all nations to take appropriate economic and policy measures to accelerate transition to a low carbon society and to encourage and effect changes in individual and national behaviour” (IPCC, 2007). Proper management of native landscape is needed if a significant step towards tackling the negative impacts of human-induced climate change is to be achieved. The general goals, ethos and objectives of Landowners, affect their adoption of sustainable strategies within their land management processes (Austin, Deary, Gibson, McGregor, & Dent, 1996; Busck, 2002; Frost, 2000; Greiner, Lankester, & Patterson, 2007; Greiner, Stoeckl, Stokes, Herr, & Bachmaier, 2003; Marshall, 2008; Morrison, Durante, Greig, Ward, & Oczkowski, 2012; Rogers, 2003). It is widely recognised that deforestation is unequivocally wrong. More native landscaping and the responsible management of landscape needs to be practised if the global carbon balance is to be readdressed and the worst impacts of climate change are to be alleviated. The aim of this paper is to carry out a critical investigation of a successful case study of responsible woodland management to be able to establish validated strategies that can be used as a future framework to assist in the appropriate management of native landscape supported by social enterprise. The emergence of social enterprise in the UK is pindown to a particular timeframe, from the 1980s to 2010 (RidleyDuff and Bull, 2011). The case study analysis of HHW is conducted in light of Key Performance Indicators derived from recommendations identified and compiled by the United-Nations, Intergovernmental and the UK Forestry commission (Defra, 2013; Forestry Commission, 2018). The paper provides a legacy assisting nations to encourage and affect changes in individual and national behaviour and to promote the appropriate management of native landscape, accelerating the transition to a low carbon society (IPCC, 2007). Concomitantly, by preventing the irresponsible environmental practice of deforestation and promoting the augmentation and responsible management of native landscapes (Vickers & Lyon, 2014), increasing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases can be minimised and offset, and the harmful effects of ocean acidification can be alleviated. The paper therefore,

contributes to the body of knowledge and literature in the field of responsible management of woodlands and native landscapes. 2. Responsible management of English woodland through social enterprise A critical analysis of Hill Holt Wood (HHW) a 14 hectare sustainably managed ancient woodland and social enterprise located 20 miles outside The City of Lincoln on the border of the counties of Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire in the East Midlands region of the UK (Exton & Totterdill, 2016). Established in 1995 by Karen and Nigel Lowthrop (O'Brien, 2004) it has grown today into a notable social enterprise and charity offering alternative education provision for children excluded from school, supports unemployed people struggling to access training and jobs and a showcase for low carbon and sustainable building design sites. The new owners of HHW are entrepreneurs driven by the motivation to build enterprises that directly contribute to sustainable development. As defined by Parrish (2010) conventional entrepreneurs view enterprises as a means of profiting from the exploitation of resources, for own's advantage to create highest financial profit in the shortest time possible. However, sustainability entrepreneurs view enterprises as a driver of perpetuating resources, using human and natural resources in a way that enhances and maintains the quality of their functioning for the longest time possible. Run as an economically profitable business, HHW promotes sustainability-driven entrepreneurship by managing community woodland and developing an awareness of unsustainable and anthropogenic behaviour whilst addressing issues of citizenship and social responsibility. HHW images of the woodlands presented in Fig. 1 , has been selected as a case study as its strategies are credible, fulfilling key environmental and social objectives within its context. The HHW project is widely acknowledged by the Princes Trust, Forestry Commission and various other leading academics receiving a number of local, regional and national awards for its achievements in both enterprise and entrepreneurship (Frith, McElwee, & Somerville, 2009, p. 38). The strategies analysed in this paper will be structured in line with the framework criteria of this paper, which considers the techniques used by HHW for promoting a positive social, environmental and sustainable impact upon its surrounding context that is key in attaining a holistic sustainable development approach (Elnokaly and Elseragy, 2012; Elnokaly & Elseragy, 2013). 2.1. Hill Holt Wood and the responsible management of woodland After purchasing HHW in 1995, the primary intent of the owners was to restore the woodland to its original ancient condition (Frith et al., 2009, p. 38). The wood was initially in such a state of decline that the previous owners had removed most of the quality timber from the woodland. As well as being poorly managed, invasive plants such as rhododendrons had taken hold crowding out, killing and preventing the growth of native flora (Somerville, Frith and McElwee, 2009, p. 38). Issues with poor and damaged drainage systems rendered large areas of the woodland waterlogged, leaving much of the woodland inaccessible and unusable (Somerville, 2011). Therefore, the first task for the new owners was to restore the land drainage systems and begin re-establishing the woodland, which previous experience had taught would be a time-consuming process (Frith et al., 2009, p. 38). The responsible management of woodland is also imperative in countering the general decline of UK biodiversity, which may render native ecosystems susceptible to future invasions to foreign species (Manchester & Bullock, 2000). Today woodland occupies 11.6% of the land area of the UK, but just 0.4% of that 11.6% is ancient semi-natural woodland, defined as being continuously established since 1600AD (House of Commons Library, 2015). This highlights the significance of any ancient woodland and the need to preserve that habitat from deforestation (Eichhorn, 2013). 2

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Fig. 1. Hill Holt Wood natural woodland and ponds (Image courtesy A. Elnokaly).

sustainable forestry management, Hill Holt teaches individuals key forestry skills for improving, maintaining and managing native woodland in turn ensuring and promoting the responsible management of future woodland, whilst simultaneously restoring the learning environment, HHW itself (Frith et al., 2009, p. 38). Through its educational training programs, HHW has been successful in addressing many wider social issues concerning youth crime, dysfunctional behaviour and educational exclusion (O'Brien, 2004). As a result of its work with young individuals, Lincolnshire Police's Rural Beat Team stated that during 2008, anti-social behaviour and criminal damage in rural areas had decreased, reducing rural policing areas by at least 25% (Frith et al., 2009, p. 38). They commented that without the assistance from staff at HHW, the Police would not be achieving such high standards, commending the success of HHW that engages with young people to divert them away from antisocial or criminal activities (Frith et al., 2009, p. 38). The Chief Inspector of the Lincolnshire Police Authority praises the work of the HHW initiative testifying that Hill Holt pupils have “generally stayed out of the offending and anti-social cycle, contributing positively toward society becoming an asset rather than a drain on their local communities” (Frith et al., 2009, p. 38). As a result of developing a successful relationship and assisting the police, the Lincolnshire force now has extra resources to tackle more pressing rural issues.

As a manifestation of their strong values and beliefs in sustainable development and through previous experience working for the Forestry Commission and the appropriate management of the woodland, the owners aim was to restore the ancient woodland to its original condition and with the responsible management of the woodland, prevent it from being lost and damaged due to the inappropriate forestry methods of the previous owners (Somerville, Frith and McElwee, 2009, p. 38). HHW also monitors surrounding countryside and deals with incidents of fly-tipping and other environmental issues providing countryside services for North Kesteven District Council, which is another manner in which HHW ensures the responsible management of neighbouring countryside (Somerville, Frith and McElwee, 2009, p. 38). Through assisting in local authority matters and working for local parish councils managing pieces of land, the social enterprise extends its responsible management expertise into a wider context, furthering its positive environmental impact and stopping irresponsible environmental practices (Somerville, Frith and McElwee, 2009, p. 38). 2.2. Hill Holt Wood and Positive Social Relationships After restoring the wood to a reasonable state the owners founded the HHW Management Committee in 1999 (HHW, 2016). The intention of the committee was to establish a relationship between HHW and the surrounding communities. HHW initially developed to run as a social enterprise for the good of the community, the woodlands and the environment. However, in an interview with Nigel Lowthrop, the founder of HHW in 2013, he explained that does not stop it from making profits that can be reinvested in its charitable functions. He added that this ensures the sustainability of the entrepreneurial model he constructed. By 2002, HHW was established as a social enterprise with the aim of managing an environmentally sustainable community woodland (SEUK, 2013). In order to operate as a locally-valued and economicallyviable social enterprise, HHW set about approaching the Job Centre back in 2002 offering jobs to a team of long-term, unemployed people from the surrounding community (Somerville, Frith and McElwee, 2009, p. 38). By training a team of Foresters with skills in the craft of creating, managing, conserving and repairing woodland HHW began providing “education, training and employment opportunities for school children excluded from mainstream education, young offenders and unemployed and disadvantaged young people” (VCSE, 2007). Through providing on-site training and courses for young people in

2.3. Hill Holt Wood and promoting environmental awareness Through its educational and social initiates, HHW actively promotes environmentally sustainable messages, demonstrating the true value of woodland (Exton & Totterdill, 2016). In order to build a sustainable business and income model, as well as be able to sustain its social support purposes HHW has established a wide range of income sources. In addition to the HHW educational programmes as listed above, the social enterprise is contracted to look after 300 acres of open space including parks, other woodlands and footpaths on behalf of North Kesteven District Council (Exton & Totterdill, 2016). This provides further employment and job opportunities for people and youth from the community and beyond. The Lowthrops started a small architectural practice that promotes sustainability ethos on site which provides internships for graduate students specialising in sustainable design. It has become a successful model that hashad internship students from all schools of architecture 3

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dream of the woodland, which they believe will continue to run successfully following the model they have constructed for it. Together all the buildings in the woodland are eco-friendly, low carbon buildings, which set an example for the responsible and appropriate ways of engaging with landscape and built environment subsequently setting an important precedence in the transition to a low carbon society (Elnokaly & Vyas, 2014; Elseragy et al., 2018). Many high-profile visitors from different agencies including the UK Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Department of Trade and Industry, along with the Forestry Commission and visits from the royal family have made a significant difference in the number of visitors and built an awareness of the contribution that HHW makes within its local community (Frith et al., 2009, p. 38). One of the authors of this paper has regularly taken students, over a period of seven years, to visit HHW. Around 1000 International Architecture students from over 20 different countries have visited HHW site to meet the owners and founders of HHW; learn the ethos of sustainable woodland management; visit the low carbon buildings constructed on the HHW site; and to learn and experience firsthand about earth and straw bale construction. Other initiatives developed by the social enterprise, such as the ‘Friends of Hill Holt Wood’, also promote exposure to the sustainable and appropriate management of the ancient woodland and responsible green building techniques. In addition, companies sponsor ethical associations with the HHW project economically supporting the project's environmental and educational agendas, the care and rehabilitation of youth offenders and the constant maintenance of the ancient woodland itself.

in the region and beyond. HHW is also home to’ The Hive Café’, which offers home-grown, local and organic food and honey and is a popular venue for visitors to the region. HHW's sustainably built earth structure and conference centre are popular venues for parties, conferences and events such as weddings. By providing amenities and facilities for local people who can freely use the woodland recreationally, HHW offers community woodland, which is available for everyone to enjoy. By making the woodland accessible to the public for activities such as dog walking and as a picnic venue, Hill Holt get the local community involved in the project, exposing them to new sustainable and responsible ways of thinking (Frith et al., 2009, p. 38). Because the woodland is privately owned and due to the educational activities that take place in it, there are always foresters and others around. This makes HHW a safer environment for vulnerable members of the community such as pensioners and single women (O'Brien, 2004). The local community arrange ‘help days’ where a group of 20–30 individuals spend the weekend camping in the woodlands helping in the forestry restorative activities. This is another example of how an awareness of the responsible management of woodland and that of HHW can be visible, engaging with the local community (Frith et al., 2009, p. 38). 2.4. Hill Holt Wood environmental and sustainable building strategies With its strong emphasis on environmental sustainability strategies, its built environment, offices and accommodation for staff, rangers and administrative assistants, HHW embody low carbon, sustainable initiatives such as constructing traditional ‘foresters’ buildings. Earth construction meeting hall/conference centre with a reciprocal frame roof, composed of locally-sourced tree trunks, for the HHW Community Hall/Conference Centre (Chilton, Cowley, Westmuckett, & Gilroy-Scott, 2009) are depicted in Fig. 3 as well as installing water purification systems and earth composting toilets (VCSE, 2007). Through its environmental building design strategies, green building techniques and low carbon construction, visitors of the wood are exposed to an array of developing methods of sustainable construction techniques. In 2001, planning permission for the owners to build their own eco-house within the grounds of the ancient woodland in recognition of the positive contribution they had made within their local community was granted (Exton & Totterdill, 2016). Eco-house photos depicted in Fig. 2 (d to f). The house was later sold by the owners and founders of HHW in 2018, who decided to move on after managing to construct their sustainable

2.5. Funding, Structure and Governance: The Hill Holt Wood model HHW is recognised to adopt an Adaptive Governance (AG) model. Adaptive Governance connects individuals, organisations, societies, and institutions at multiple organisational levels (Clark & Clarke, 2011). In AG, key persons provide leadership, trust, vision and meaning. In the case of HHW, this was provided by the founders of the woodlands; Nigel and Karen Lawthrop. They played a key role in transforming the management of HHW toward a learning environment. AG systems often self-organise key stakeholders, social networks with teams and actor groups that draw on various knowledge systems and experiences for the development of a common understanding and policies, as a means of instilling behavioural adaptation among them. Various studies on

Fig. 2. Visits of International Architecture Students to the Hill Holt Wood site (Images a to c); Founders eco-house within the grounds of the ancient woodland (Photos: A. Elnokaly). 4

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Fig. 3. Sustainable Earth construction at Hill Holt Wood and the reciprocal frame roofing of the community hall (Photos: A. Elnokaly).

attention is paid to actors' involvement in ‘cross-level’ and ‘cross-scale’ interactions, which allegedly furnish the managerial and learning management framework adopted at HHW to catalyse sustainable development.

natural resource management has emphasised the significance of ‘adaptive governance’ in providing more environmentally sustainable products (Brunner, Steelman, & Juell, 2005; Gunderson and Holling, 2002; Ladson, 2009; Larsen & Gunnarsson-Ostling, 2009). Concerned with the challenges of social enterprises, a national programme designed to strengthen the engagement of the voluntary and community sector (VCS) Engage, supported by the Family and Parenting Institute (FPI) and the Social Enterprise Coalition and funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families analyses the framework of HHW in light of the government's requirements in delivering services for children, young people and families. Establishing the social enterprise's funding, the report comments that the primary source of income for HHW is generated by providing vocational training to younger people as well as honouring contracts with statutory agencies. According to VCS Engage, three-quarters of the organisation's revenue comes from two major contracts, one with Lincolnshire County Council to work with young people who have been excluded from education and the other with the Learning and Skills Council for the Entry to Employment provision for 16 to 19 year-olds (VCSE, 2007). In light of government figures from the Small Business Survey 2005, there are at least 55,000 social enterprises in the United Kingdom (VCSE, 2007). These contribute £8.4 billion to the UK economy and account for 5 per cent of employment (VCSE, 2007). HHW offers a number of trading opportunities of goods and services. Government grants are an essential source of initial funding for many social enterprises (Oyedele et al, 2013) and in the case of HHW, supplementing on-going services in order to achieve public benefit and social value. The HHW enterprise works in partnership with “Leisure Connections to provide countryside services for the district council with the remaining balance coming from conferences and the profits from handmade wooden furniture” (VCSE, 2007). Economic profits are reinvested back into furthering social and environmental objectives. Today HHW's entrepreneurial approach to forestry has created a thriving sustainable business with many social and environmental benefits. The ancient Woodland has gone from being “damaged land” to a sustainable and successful business which in 2007 had a turnover of over £500,000 and a surplus of £100,000, which was re-invested back into the business (SEUK, 2013). The history of the HHW social enterprise has been largely designed by its founders' commitment to creating a sustainable organisation. The Lowthrops' determined, not only it's business model, but also Nigel and Karen's own planned exit that took place in 2018, ensuring effective succession planning and full community ownership. Particular

2.6. Hill Holt Wood and UK governmental policy in reducing carbon emissions In order to comply with the G8 long-term policy framework alongside many other member nations - the UK has pledged to heavily reduce its carbon dioxide emissions. The “2008 Climate Change Act”, a legally binding climate change target aiming to reduce the UK's greenhouse gas emissions to at least 35% by 2020 and at least 80% by 2050 (Finch & Marshall, 2016). Moving to a more energy efficient, lowcarbon economy will help achieve these target reductions in carbon dioxide emissions (Elnokaly & Martin, 2014). The 2008 Climate Change Act and associated legislations aim to “improve carbon management and help the transition to a low-carbon economy in the UK”, whilst illustrating that the “UK is committed to sharing the responsibility for reducing global greenhouse gas emissions” and developing negotiations on a “post 2012 international climate change agreement” (gov.uk, 2013; Oyedele et al., 2013). Setting carbon budgets, the UK government hopes that these national policies and strategies will limit greenhouse gas emissions. Hill Holt's responsible management of landscape along, with its work in promoting awareness of sustainable building techniques - as seen in Fig. 4 - plays a key role in offsetting UK carbon emissions. Social forestry, teaching and promoting the skills needed to ensure the future responsible management of woodland assists government aim to “deliver a significant proportion of the UK's carbon emissions reductions between 2013 and 2020” (gov.uk, 2013). Carbon embodiment in woodland offers a natural method for absorbing carbon emissions and creating oxygen farms whilst creating positive social impacts for communities and raising awareness in the approach to a low carbon society. By offering other services; sustainable architectural design services and traditional activities such as craft work and furniture-making using responsibly-sourced materials from the wood, HHW sets a strong precedence for responsible environmental design services and products. 3. Hilt holt wood: main findings and lessons learnt The primary HHW objective of running a self-sustaining social enterprise in the woodland is exceeding the expectations of the founding 5

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Fig. 4. Sustainable Community Hall and demonstatration of sustainable building techniques for youth groups at the woodlands (Photos: A. Elnokaly).

planning permission for an eco-home, the value of the woodland increased by ten-fold, from approximately £40,000 to £400,000 (Frith et al., 2009, p. 38). This is lucrative for the owners as the local community does not befit from this increase in estate value. The owners of HHW acknowledge that it would not be easy to replicate the success of the social enterprise within the local region(Frith et al., 2009, p. 38). However, the model represents successful lessons to be learnt. They acknowledge that it would be difficult to set up mirror projects, especially within close proximity of each other. This is due to the fact that multiple social enterprises adopting the HHW model would be reliant on the same Local Authority grants. Yet again, if austerity measures resulted in the sudden cut of these grants, it is envisaged that today,the HHW social enterprise has build a well established social and community organisation, and could survive on revenue generated by the hiring of the community hall, the selling of organic food, craftwork and furniture-making activities.

members and board. Successfully, the HHW model demonstrates the way that woodland and social enterprise can contribute to communities and disadvantaged young people, generating positive environmental and social impacts as well as creating new links between urban and rural areas (O'Brien, 2004). Through the saviour of the woodland by its appropriate management, Hill Holt ensures the preservation of its ancient woodland and in turn maintains site carbon stocks whilst ensuring future oxygen production. HHW's education and awareness programs focus on education, health, youth justice, rural development andsocial enterprise as well as direct woodland and countryside management, which generates further positive social impact for excluded school students and local communities. Through the use of social forestry, HHW has induced an awareness of the responsible management of landscape as well as highlighting the need for the transition to a low carbon society within the youth of today. The social enterprise offers opportunities to all; creating jobs, offering programs for excluded children and young offenders, with other members of the community benefiting from the recreational use of the community woodland. This approach of social forestry has been proven to reduce anti-social behaviour assisting local authorities in meeting their targets in terms of crime, education and employment. The HHW model provides strong precedence for the responsible management of woodland through social enterprise within Europe. The successful strategies of HHW identified in this paper will contribute toa framework legacy for the sustainable and appropriate management of native landscape,assisting in the establishment of a universal framework that can be adapted and adopted by nations and used as a legacy for the responsible management of woodland through a social enterprise innovative practice. This Framework includes some main variables that are: Responsible Management of Woodland; Positive Social Relationships; Promoting Environmental Awareness; Adopting Environmental and Sustainable Building Strategies; A tailored model for Funding, Structure and Governance; Impacting Governmental Policy in Reducing Carbon Emissions. Implementing this holistic and integrative framework by the HHW owners was such a difficult, lengthy and complicated task, that had only proven to ripe success in the last decade. Concomitantly, the HHW model demonstrated that individuals can play a significiant role in the sustainable and responsible management of the native landscape. One of the main critiques of the HHW social enterprise model is that, although people recognise the personal and organisational risks that can be involved, they believe the social enterprise approach is too over-reliant on grant funding (VCSE, 2007:4). Another argument is that boundaries defining public and private/business become blurred as HHW begins as a private enterprise and after prospering as a result of the public sector, finally transforms itself into a “community-owned enterprise or community co-operative” (Somerville, 2011). This transition from a private business to a social enterprise, according to Somerville is particularly lucrative and in the interest of the private owners as the apportioned a small area of the ancient woodland for their own private residence (Somerville, 2011). With approved

4. Establishing a framework legacy for the appropriate management of native landscape After identifying the successful strategies used in HHW, the main findings are used to contribute to ‘A Framework Legacy for the Appropriate Management of Native Landscape’ that is developed by the authors and presented in Fig. 5. However, due to the limit of this paper, this will be discussed in more detail in a forthcoming publication. By identifying the appropriate techniques for the responsible management of native landscapes, ways of sustaining and creating a positive social impact, successful methods for promoting environmental awareness, along with effective building and landscape strategies, specific universal strategies for the appropriate management of woodland through social enterprise can be deduced. These specific and generic strategies can be adapted and appropriated to provide an applicable future framework; working on a continental scale, dealing with different climates, topographies, cultures and governments, suitable for implementing the appropriate management of the native landscape. This legacy can be embraced as a driver assisting in the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions that can go some way towards countering the negative impacts of human-induced climate change. 5. Discussion This paper has established a framework for the future appropriate management of native landscapes and woodlands based on the successful case study of HHW, UK. As an indication of the worthiness of research; the successful social enterprise model of HHW and the significance of the low carbon building design and construction, the project has received local, regional and national awards for its achievements in construction, enterprise and entrepreneurship. These included, but are not limited to, the Lincolnshire & Rutland Business award 2006; Lord Stafford Award for Innovation in Sustainability 2009; Housing Associations Green Apple Award for The Built Environment, 2009; Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the year. Regional winner Karen 6

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Fig. 5. A framework legacy for the appropriate management of native landscape.

their Key Performance Indicators (KPI's).

Lowthrop 2011; Lincolnshire Energy Awards Sustainable Construction Company of the Year 2016; EBP Investors in Education Award 2016; North Kesteven District Council Community Business Award 2016; Royal Forestry Society Gold Award for Excellence 2017 (HHW, 2016). This discussion critically evaluates the feasibility of such a framework in practice. The legacy produced by HHW has identified a future framework which can be adapted and adopted and implemented through social enterprise/eco-tourism models integrating the local community to assist in the transition to a low carbon society. The following integrated strategies should be used as a universal framework for the appropriate management of woodlands, assisting nations to encourage the sustaianble and responsible management of native landscape, creating a positive social impact, environment awareness, environmental and sustainable building strategies and reducing carbon emissions. The framework includes the details of the systems, structures, and measures that are necessary for sustainable management of woodlands and the change in culture and processes to improve both social and financial performance. Frameworks like the criteria derived and compiled by the UN, Intergovernmental and the UK Forestry Commission ((Forestry Commission, 2018); Balanced Scorecard (Monteiro & Ribeiro, 2017) and the ISO 14001 environmental management systems (EMS) (Wrap, 2015) standard were used to provide valuable insights into the general implementation process. However, this framework focuses more on establishing relationships between sustainable woodlands initiatives and social enterprise profitability as it relates to social and environmental strategies and narrows the attention down to specific actions and their payoffs. The framework is presented in Fig. 5 as a sustainability linkage map including both social and financial consequences of social, environmental and community enterprise activities. There are five major components of this framework, demonstrating significant integrative relationships between these components and

1. Responsible Management of Landscape Practice the responsible management and conservation of any landscape by conducting the augmentation of indigenous landscapes through rehabilitation, transplanting established vegetation and founding on-site nurseries, removing non-native species in order to encourage native ecological wildlife to remain in their native areas. 2. Positive Social Actions Provide educational initiatives which tackle local social issues, provide jobs and opportunities for local individuals and support local businesses. Employ and promote craftsmanship conveying local skills and expertise in order to ensure the sustainable environmental management of the built environment and the embodiment of local cultural significance within objects and built environment. 3. Promoting Environmental Awareness Raise awareness of anthropogenic forcing and the harmful human impacts on native landscapes and take action to eradicate damaging practices and alleviate irreversible environmental damage to native landscapes. Establish charities to educate on harmful environmental practices such as deforestation and ocean acidification, engaging with the local community demonstrating sustainable ethos. 4. Environmental and Sustainable Building Techniques Architectural design should reference traditional, cultural building techniques utilising vernacular materials, embodying sustainable, green 7

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building strategies. Environmental strategies employed in low carbon building design should be set as an important precedence for the appropriate construction methods within woodland sites aiding the transition to a low carbon society.

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5. Reduce Carbon Emissions Take all action necessary to reduce carbon emissions and encourage changes in national behaviour, in order to assist in the transition to a low carbon society. Stop the destruction of native landscapes in order to prevent rising CO2 emissions and future unknown consequences. The above indicators and environmental strategies ensure that the sustainable and responsible management systems are in place to prevent unnecessary environmental damage, successively offsetting universal carbon emissions and alleviating human-induced climatic change. This paper is successful in assembling the social, economic and environmental positive outcomes of HHW project, as a successful UK case study providing a platform for many lessons to be learned. 6. Conclusions and final remarks This paper has taken a detailed interest in the sustainable and responsible management of native landscape through a critical scrutiny of the HHW Social Enterprise case in the UK. The case of HHW should not be seen as a one-off phenomenon, but as a successful model that can be scaled up across the UK and internationally. Implementing the appropriate management ofnative landscape is a very difficult task, one that is usually carried out by governmental bodies and large organisations such as the Forestry Commission, but the HHW Social Enterprise model demonstrates that individuals can play a significant and effective role in the sustainable and responsible management of native landscape, promoting the sustainable ethos and generating positive social impact far more effectively than any other organisation. The lessons learnt from this case study provide a legacy for the future of appropriate management of international native landscapes. The legacy produced has identified a future framework, which can be adapted and implemented through social enterprise models, assisting in the transition to a low carbon society. The Framework and KPI's presented in Fig. 5 should be used as a global framework for the appropriate management of native landscape and ways of assisting nations to encourage the sustainable and responsible management of native landscape, creating a positive social impact; environmental awareness; environmental and sustainable building strategies and reducing carbon emissions. Hence, specific universal strategies for the appropriate management of woodland through social enterprise and specific strategies for the appropriate management of native landscape supported by community integration and work can be deduced. The policies and environmental strategies depicted in Fig. 5 ensure that management systems are in place to prevent unnecessary environmental damage, successively offsetting universal carbon emissions and alleviating human-induced climatic change. These specific and universal strategies can be adapted to various contexts, providing an applicable future framework working on a continental scale, dealing with different climates, topographies, cultures, governments for sustainable management of their native landscape. Concomitantly, the legacy offered by the HHW case study and derived framework presented in this paper can be used by both large organisations, through to individuals, who can all play a key role in the preservation of native landscape. This will assist in the UK government's legal obligation and that of all other G8 member nations and other nations to make maximum efforts to commit to halving global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Therefore, combating the negative consequences of anthropogenic climate change. 8

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