A charity dedicated to planting trees in inner city areas says encouraging children to connect with nature from an early age is key to helping to halt climate change.

Trees for Cities, which was founded in 1993, creates allotments for school-children in socially-deprived urban areas, an article in the Guardian reports.

Pockets of green space dedicated to growing fruit and vegetables are ‘edible playgrounds’ that are crucial to teaching youngsters about where food comes from, says the charity, which has planted one million trees across the UK since its launch.

A concrete square in Birkenhead, in the north-west, is one example of how the project has transformed an urban space into a thriving allotment, with children from the nearby Holy Cross Catholic primary school harvesting strawberries and rhubarb amongst other vegetables.

Chief executive of Trees for Cities, David Elliottm told the newspaper: “The entry point is around healthy food and food-growing but there’s a wide range of benefits that the edible playground brings in behaviour, confidence, and wellbeing.

“More broadly, our vision is to be working from the youngest age upwards to inspire kids to get out and be connected to nature so they become the guardians and conservationists of the future.

“Without them, we’re not going to have future cities that have trees and green spaces that are protected and seen as vital.”