Explorer Hanbury-Tenison raising money for Thousand Year Trust, a charity keen to restore Britain’s temperate rainforests
By
For 88-year-old Robin Hanbury-Tenison, the decision to row 22 miles in 11 hours on an English river is one motivated by a simple goal: to raise money to restore Britain’s temperate rainforests.
Enjoying this article? Check out our related reads:
Hanbury-Tenison will be embarking on the challenge on the 7 and 8 May this year, rowing up and down the River Tamar to raise money for Thousand Year Trust, a charity dedicated to tripling the amount of temperate rainforest in the UK.
These areas – once sprawling across one-fifth of the British Isles – now cover just 1 per cent of land in Great Britain, making them one of the rarest ecosystems in the world. According to a study by the University of Leeds, up to two-thirds of temperate rainforests across the globe could succumb to global warming by the end of the century, with British rainforests no exception.
All donations will contribute towards building Europe’s first temperate rainforest research station in Cornwall, a centre that will include a dedicated research laboratory, fieldwork lodging for scientists and a community hub for scientific and conservationist communities to come together, in order to meet the charity’s ambitious goal.
Described as ‘the doyen of British explorers’ by The Spectator, Hanbury-Tenison’s latest venture only adds to the long list of exploratory challenges across his lifetime. From making the first two crossings of South America from East to West, and North to South, to leading the Royal Geographical Society’s largest scientific expedition to date by spending fifteen months in Borneo, the explorer is keen to preserve the habitats and ecosystems of our natural world.
If you can make it to River Tamar on the 7 and 8 May, be sure to support Hanbury-Tenison.
