Speaking at a parliamentary reception on behalf of the Woodland Trust, Baroness D'Souza highlighted the work of the Jubilee Woods project, a campaign to create 60 'Diamond Woods' across the country to commemorate Her Majesty's 60-year reign.
The project will include a flagship site in the National Forest in Leicestershire, where every parliamentarian will be encouraged to contribute towards the planting of one tree each.
Describing the scheme as "an eminently worthwhile project", D'Souza congratulated the Trust, donors and local communities for the work that they are doing to enable the project to come to life.
She said: "This is a remarkable project to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee and I congratulate you all on the work that you are doing."
Other speakers at the reception, held in the River Room of the House of Lords, included Baroness Andrews and Sue Holden of the Woodland Trust.
Baroness Andrews, the reception's host, outlined the broad support the Jubilee Woods project was receiving.
Alluding to the public outcry over the proposed sale of parts of the public forest estate earlier this year, Andrews said that the nation "had rediscovered a passion for trees".
"Trees remind us of our history and heritage and they hold out the promise of a leafier future. They are good news in hard times," she noted.
"Whilst this project may be challenging, it is highly achievable. The progress that we have made so far proves that."
Andrews, a former Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Communities and Local Government, went on to discuss the plans for a flagship Diamond Wood in the National Forest in Leicestershire.
The wood will include a dedicated parliamentary grove where members of both Houses will be encouraged to make a donation of £20 to ensure a tree is planted on their behalf.
Holden, the Trust's chief executive, highlighted the importance of the Jubilee Woods project.
"Jubilee Woods is going to demonstrate that you can have value-for-money environmental improvements that, at the same time, give us economic and social benefits. And we are going to mark a very, very special occasion," she said
And Holden called for parliamentarians to push for more ambitious targets to ensure that the work of the Jubilee Woods project can be developed and enhanced.
She said: "We urge our parliamentarians to set some ambitious targets for a wooded UK. We need a public policy framework that helps us protect what we've got, but also enhances and creates more habitat, more woodland.
"We would like to see a National Planning Policy Framework that does protect the trees and woods that we have and acts as a force for good – so through planning, new communities, new schools, new hospitals could all have new woods planted around them."
Lord Strathclyde provided the closing statements at the reception, attended by parliamentarians such Sir Peter Tapsell, Lord Cormack, Defra minister Richard Benyon, Civil Society Minister, Nick Hurd and Defence minister, Andrew Robathan.
Strathclyde, the leader of the House of Lords, commended the project and congratulated the Trust for the legacy the project would provide.
He said: "The Jubilee Woods project is a scheme that this nation deserves and it will be the longest-lasting legacy to all of us."