Lord Mayor of Oxford helps celebrate successful partnership
Earthwatch welcomed the Lord Mayor of Oxford Elise Benjamin, to its Europe Regional Climate Centre in Oxfordshire on the morning of Friday 28 October.
Nigel Winser, Executive Vice President at Earthwatch, together with the Lord Mayor, David Millin from the Oxfordshire County Council and Chris Goode from HSBC bank UK, planted a Summer Sun cherry tree to commemorate Hill End and its successful part in the five-year HSBC Climate Partnership.
Lord Mayor Elise Benjamin, Nigel Winser, Earthwatch, David Millin, Oxfordshire County Council and Chris Goode, HSBC bank UK.
Speaking at Hill End, Nigel Winser said: “For the past five years Hill End has been the European climate research centre for the HSBC Climate Partnership – the world’s biggest such partnership between a company and an NGO. Earthwatch’s European base is in Oxford, and we’re very fortunate to have a wonderful facility like Hill End so close at hand.
During this time, more than 600 HSBC employees have spent time at Hill End, working alongside scientists and at the same time developing their personal understanding of environmental issues.”
Lord Mayor Elise Benjamin said: “The proximity of the Hill End Centre to Oxford, and the role that Earthwatch and Hill End have played in the HSBC Climate Partnership is a wonderful example of action being taken to address the pressing challenge of climate change.”
Earthwatch has been working with three local partners at this site: the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH), the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU) and the Environmental Change Institute of the University of Oxford. HSBC volunteers have been working alongside these scientists to quantify how human disturbances and climate change interact to affect forests, including carbon capture and storage. Forest carbon is the least well understood part of the carbon cycle.