Urban forestry is rapidly becoming a popular strategy and government policy to help mitigate the effects of climate change. It has numerous advantages, providing defense against increasing temperatures, reducing humidity levels, promoting biodiversity growth, and overall producing positive social externalities.
However, the promotion of vegetation and flora in densely populated cities is by no means a new strategy. Some of the first implementations of urban forestry to improve the climate and health issues were back in the 1960s in North America. Throughout the years, these have been more greatly embedded in government policies and programs, which now seek to take advantage of them as natural ways to adapt to climate change. Here are some of the ways urban forestry has proven to be a climate success around the world:
Reduced urban heat island effect
Research from the European Commission found that implementing tree coverage had a noticeable positive impact on overall temperatures. In the study of 93 cities around Europe, the EC discovered that even increasing tree coverage by 30% would lower temperatures on average by 0.4°C, with a maximum effect of a 5.9°C decrease in some areas. These implementations have the potential of avoiding 2,644 premature deaths, and around 40% of deaths attributable to urban heat island (UHI) effects.
Flood protection
As increasing ocean levels become more of an issue in areas such as the east coast of the US, states like Florida are having to adapt to using urban forestry unique to its geographical topography to improve defense systems. The forestry that is being implemented most in this region is mangroves, shrubs, or trees that grow in coastal saline waters. In times of storm surges or high wind speeds, the complex and random structures of these plants help reduce wave energy and debris movement, phenomena which often put cities like Cape Coral and Tampa at risk. What makes mangroves such an efficient urban forestry is that they are also extremely resilient, with capabilities to thrive in waters with high salinity, temperatures, and low oxygen.
Wildlife protection
In August 2020, the Singapore government announced what it called the Sungei Buloh Park Network. As well as being part of a wider project to plant 1 million trees in Singapore by 2030 to restore the country’s mangrove population, it will also provide a healthy habitat for migratory birds and animals, some of which travel from Russia, Alaska, and Australia. It is also home to a rare and extensive variety of plant species, some of which only remain in the hundreds.
Despite the significant benefit of implementing urban forests in our cities, some economic and logistic complications remain. In a conversation with NBC News, Ian Leahy, Vice President of urban forestry at American Forests pointed out the financial weight of installing a single tree, which on average can cost around $300 just to pull up the concrete.
Additionally, while trees have a remarkable ability to sustain themselves both in nutrition and water, ecologists have explained that the care and maintenance of forestry, particularly in its seedling stage, is just as important as planting them in the first place; currently, there is not a large enough workforce to be able to keep up with the number of trees which need care.