Volunteers involved in a wide range of conservation programmes are being heralded as key to ensuring plans to place North Yorkshire at the forefront of the fight against climate change become a reality.

The work of community champions has made a huge contribution across England’s largest county, keeping North Yorkshire cleaner, greener and more connected in ways that would otherwise not have been possible.

North Yorkshire Council is overseeing a host of initiatives to ensure that it achieves an ambition of reaching carbon net zero by 2030, and the work of volunteers is seen as vital to conduct grassroots schemes to conserve the county’s vast natural habitats.

Members of the council’s executive have also endorsed a bid for York and North Yorkshire to become the first carbon negative region in the country, meaning more carbon dioxide emissions would be removed from the atmosphere than are emitted.

North Yorkshire has five protected landscapes covering almost 50 per cent of its famous countryside, with the Howardian Hills, Nidderdale and the Forest of Bowland Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors National Parks.

North Yorkshire Council’s leader, Cllr Carl Les, said: “Volunteers play such an important role in society, but their work on conservation projects in North Yorkshire is invaluable.

“Like all councils across the country, we are facing significant financial pressures, and volunteers are such an important additional strand to support the work we do. We are committed to working closely with volunteers throughout North Yorkshire as their efforts provide such a valuable resource for us.”

Among the initiatives that are being considered to help with habitat restoration and improving biodiversity is a proposed local nature recovery strategy. Every county in England is required to produce a strategy to address the decline of nature and to improve the environment.

The planned strategy for York and North Yorkshire, which is due to be in place in 2025, will identify priorities for nature's recovery, map the most valuable existing areas and identify opportunities for creating and improving habitats. Funding of £388,000 from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has been allocated to prepare the strategy throughout the current and next financial years.

North Yorkshire Council’s executive member for managing our environment, Cllr Greg White, said: “North Yorkshire is the largest county in England and while our stunning landscapes are famous across the world, it is a mammoth task to conserve them and protect them for future generations.

“The need to tackle climate change is a priority for the council, and we are indebted to volunteers whose conservation work is so important to achieving those aims.”

Work to tackle climate change has also been identified as an initial priority for millions of pounds in funding which has been made available from the Government for projects in North Yorkshire.

The council has £16.9 million from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund to award by March 31, 2025, to projects that will improve communities and place, develop skills and support local people and businesses to prosper. A further £5.4 million from the Rural England Prosperity Fund is also available, aimed at boosting the economic prospects of the county’s rural areas.

The first programmes open for applications are the community climate action and business sustainability programmes, which aim to support the decarbonisation of North Yorkshire.

Figures show that North Yorkshire produced 5,829 kilotonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents (kt co2e) in 2020, with agriculture equating to a third of the total, transport responsible for 28 per cent and 19 per cent coming from homes.

Among those who are involved in conservation projects is Audrey McGhie, 61, a nurse at Scarborough Hospital, who is among a 20-strong group of volunteers with the Yorkshire Seal Group to teach visitors to respect the wildlife that lives on the coastline. They provide telescopes and binoculars, so people can watch the seals unobtrusively.

“I am very interested in anything to do with conservation and wildlife,” she said. “I lived in the Falklands for a long time and saw the wildlife there, which includes a lot of different types of seal. I also saw the effect people are having on the marine environment.

“If I can get more people interested and aware of the environment and the impact we have on marine life, I am helping in some small way.”

North Yorkshire Council’s own work is aided by scores of volunteers who are playing a major role in helping to conserve the environment.

A team of 130 countryside volunteers helps to look after 6,000 kilometres of public rights of way and play an instrumental role in preserving access to the countryside. They also help with landscape conservation in the Howardian Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, which lies between Helmsley, Malton, Sheriff Hutton and Easingwold.

Howardian Hills AONB officer Francesca Pert said: “North Yorkshire’s volunteers are crucial for delivering the objectives in the Howardian Hills AONB’s management plan.

“Volunteering also provides opportunities to get out in the fresh air with like-minded people, tackles loneliness and makes a tangible difference to biodiversity.

“Our volunteers help us to protect some of the area’s rarest habitats, from maintaining wildflower meadows to removing invasive non-native species and preventing scrub from encroaching on to Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation. We are extremely grateful for the work they do.”

A climate change strategy has been drawn up for North Yorkshire to develop work that is already under way to reduce carbon emissions, while outlining how the council will prepare for changes in climate. Initiatives which will need to be introduced include producing more renewable energy, reducing the use of fossil fuels, improving insulation in homes, encouraging the use of low-emission vehicles and promoting more active travel such as cycling and walking.

North Yorkshire Council is celebrating the difference that volunteers make by sharing stories from across the county as part of the Team North Yorkshire campaign.

More information about volunteering in North Yorkshire is available at www.northyorks.gov.uk/TeamNorthYorkshire online.

Information about the UK Shared Prosperity Fund’s programmes, including the support and funding available, eligibility criteria, when they will open and how to apply, is available at www.northyorks.gov.uk/ukspf online.