Community leaders and volunteers recently came together to welcome Mete Coban, London Deputy Mayor of London for Environment and Energy, to one of our newest community orchards.
The Greater London Authority chose Graham Street Park in Islington to officially announce the successful projects for the latest round of Green Roots Fund, which will include supporting us to create new community food forests across the city over the next two years.
We will be working in partnership with Earthwatch in London boroughs including Hackney, Barnet and Islington to co-create 14 new urban edible landscapes with local communities and carry out citizen science research.
“It’s great to get this recognition from the Deputy Mayor that community orchards are far more than something that’s simply ‘nice to have’ in our cities, but actually an effective way to tackle many of the challenges we face around equity, community cohesion and climate change,” said Kath Rosen, CEO, The Orchard Project (below).
Mete Coban, Deputy Mayor for Environment and Energy, said: “Not having access to quality green space is an issue of social and racial justice. The Orchard Project’s work with communities, like those in Graham Street Park, exemplifies what the Mayor and I want to achieve through the Mayor’s Green Roots Fund. Everyone in our city deserves access to amazing places like these.”
Earthwatch will be working alongside us on this project to help train up local volunteers to monitor the biodiversity, tree growth, carbon capture and soil quality over time.
“We are thrilled to be partnering with The Orchard Project on this important Green Roots Fund initiative,” said Dr Sasha Woods, Director of Science and Impact at Earthwatch Europe. “This project is about more than just planting trees; it’s about empowering communities and delivering urgently needed change in some of London’s most nature-deprived areas. We are excited to contribute our expertise in citizen science to ensure these new urban orchards provide long-term benefits for both people and nature in areas of clear need.”
The community orchard at Graham Street Park was created last year in partnership with The Friends of Graham Street Park (FROGS), an active group of local volunteers. It is located by City Road basin, close to Angel and Old Street stations and next to Regents Canal.
We were also joined at the launch event on 27 November by Councillor Martin Klute; Andrew Hillier, Area Parks Manager, Islington South, London Borough of Islington; Monica Esposito-West, Business Development Manager, Earthwatch Europe, and Kirstie Wielandt, Member of the Board of Trustees, Friends of Graham Street (FROGS); along with participants from our new Consultant Development Programme.