Old Truronian protects environment

Old Truronian Harry Williams (CO10) has been in touch to tell us about his new environmental venture.

Since leaving Truro School, Harry went on to complete a BSc in Zoology, MSc in Conservation and PhD in Venomology.

Now Harry has recently founded an ecological restoration charity called the Little Environmental Action Foundation (LEAF). The official launch for LEAF will be during National Tree week (28th November – 6th December) when they are hoping to raise funds for a new seedling nursery through a crowdfunding campaign.

The charity is undertaking its first project in Kenya, planting highly threatened native trees in the East African Coastal Forest zone. This project aims to save the region’s endemic trees that are all predicted to go extinct by 2050 without intervening action. LEAF is working in partnership with Pwani University to recover seeds, grow seedlings and plant out these threatened species around fragments of ancient forest sites called relicts. These relicts are incredibly important to the future of this region, as currently 96% of native trees have been lost to monoculture plantations and farming.

The LEAF charity remains in its infancy but has ambitious plans to expand its restoration work into ten countries by 2030. Potential projects in Rwanda and India have already been identified, whilst a UK-based school outreach programme is being developed.

If you would like to learn more about LEAF’s work, visit their website or follow them on social media @wearetheleaf.