Butterfly Conservation has joined a campaign to help protect the UK’s woodland and the butterflies and moths that depend on them.

The campaign, led by the Woodland Trust, is calling on people to stick up for trees and help create a new charter for trees, woods and people.

Our woods and trees are facing unprecedented pressures from development, disease and climate change. They risk being neglected, undervalued and forgotten.

Woodlands are a vitally important habitat for butterflies such as the Purple Emperor, Speckled Wood and White Admiral  and a huge range of moths. At a time when wildlife is under threat like never before protecting our trees, woods and forests for the future is vitally important.

The campaign is calling for a new charter for trees, woods and people. The charter will be launched in November 2017, which marks 800 years since Henry lll signed the original Charter of the Forest. This influential charter protected and restored the rights of people to access and use the Royal Forests.

The coalition believe that now is the time to create a new charter, a broader charter that recognises the importance of trees in our society, celebrates their enormous contribution to our lives, and acts now so that future generations can benefit from them too.

The coalition’s ambition is that the principles set out in the 2017 charter will articulate the relationship between people and trees in the UK in the 21st century.

The charter will provide guidance and inspiration for policy, practice, innovation and enjoyment, redefining the everyday benefits that we all gain from woods and trees in our lives, for everyone, from Government to businesses, communities and individuals.

Local groups, clubs, councils and committees will be encouraged to take part by bringing people together to celebrate the woods and trees at the heart of their communities and help feed ideas and stories into the building of the charter.