March is B Corp month, an annual celebration of more than 8,000 B Corp Certified global businesses, sharing how they’re moving forward to pave the way for better business. We got together with representatives from 12 Kent-based B-Corps to help plant 150 trees and kick-off a month of celebrations.
Published: March 2024
Spring was in the air on Monday 4th as we gathered at the Wildwood Trust in Herne, a charity working with nature to fight the biodiversity crisis, halt the extinction of species and create resilient habitats in which nature thrives.
KENT PLAN TREE
Event organisers liaised with both Wildwood and Kent County Council’s Kent Plan Tree team, which is an initiative to help extend tree cover across the county. Established in 2022 the strategy sets an ambition to plant some 1.5 million new trees and increase canopy cover to 19% in Kent. Rewind back to school, we all know the benefits of trees creating oxygen and storing carbon, but they also help to stabilise and nourish the soil, cool the air by providing shade and give life and shelter to wildlife.
Key to this strategy is finding the right locations to plant new trees. It just so happened that within the boundaries of Wildwood was an area of former woodland the trust recently acquired, which had been cleared illegally many decades ago. With a mixture of English Oak, Rowan, Bird Cherry, Hazel and Field Maple trees, all supplied from a local nursery. We were given a demonstration of how to ‘pit plant’ a tree and with spades in hands, off we went for the morning.
WILDWOOD’S MISSION
After a hearty lunch of soup and bread rolls we were treated to a tour of the park. Wildwood has taken the lead on many conservation and re-wilding projects, not just in Kent but across the whole of the UK. They are helping to return the European Beaver as part of a fenland restoration project and last year successfully released a group of red-billed chough in Dover for the first time in more than 200 years.
Towards the East of the park is the Wilder Blean, partnering with Kent Wildlife Trust to introduce European Bison to an area of woodland for the first time in the UK, with the aim of restoring 600 hectares of ancient woodland and creating a new habitat. Due to the vast size of their fenced area we weren’t lucky enough to spot the herd from the viewing platform, but we did get to see two new Bison who recently arrived at Wildwood.
WHAT IS A B-CORP?
There are over 1,500 B-Corp certified business of all size across the UK, each of which has gone through an intensive assessment process to verify that they’re putting people, communities and the planet at the heart of everything they do.
Digitom achieved a certification score of 96.5 in June 2023. But certification is not an achievement, it’s a line in the sand to mark the start of an evolving journey to help bring change and contribute to a brighter future.
