The UK hosted the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow at the Scottish Event Campus (SEC) between 31st October-12th November 2021. COP26 brought together 120 world leaders and over 40,000 registered participants for a two week event to debate everything about climate change, including the emission of greenhouse gases such as Methane and the pledge to halt deforestation by 2030. 

During COP26, 137 countries agreed to channel some of their efforts into reversing the loss of our forests and degradation by 2030; a pledge which is backed by £12 billion in public funding and £7.2 million in private funding. 103 countries also signed the Global Methane Pledge to reduce Methane by 30% by 2030. 

Woodlands are vital in the fight against pollution and climate change as the trees of an average forest can store 213 million tonnes of carbon and the trees of an ancient woodland can store an additional 77 million tonnes of carbon. Despite the fact woodland trees play a crucial part through carbon sequestration and improving the quality of the air communities breathe, woods and trees are subject to a variety of coinciding threats, such as plantation forestry, nitrogen air pollution, housing builds, deer, roads and railways.  

According to a report from The Woodland Trust titled The State of the UK’s Woods and Trees published in 2021 only 7% of woodland in the UK is in good ecological condition, suggesting the majority of the existing 13% of forest space in the UK is in a vulnerable state due to a lack of visibility and consistent management. The most recent, updated version of the report released in 2025 highlighted the impact of poor management, reducing structural complexity and causing a lack of features of a healthy habitat, including a lack of open spaces, deadwood and a variety of native tree species. The report suggests improving the evidence available to improve our understanding of how to help a woodland adapt to climate change.   

The woodland depicted does not undergo any regular maintenance, such as coppicing or formative pruning, leaving the space and the wider biodiversity vulnerable to disease, such as acute oak decline, Ask Dibeck, Dutch Elm Disease. Household waste and litter from the neighbouring salad house is scattered on the forest floor. The trees compete for light and land, blocking light from reaching the forest floor and hardy shrubs are overgrown. Pollution and a lack of ongoing, outside specialist intervention has not only left the space as an environmental hazard, but also the growth, biodiversity and structural integrity of this unseen forest is at risk of further decline.

The purpose of this project is to raise awareness and the profile of a hidden woodland space in Essex which environmental specialists have failed to notice in favour of more historically established and publicly visible land.

The pictures represent the inconsistent and irregular level of awareness of environmental conservation amongst the general public in the UK, the contrast between public awareness, woodland visibility and political unrest.