by Rik De Vreese | Jun 4, 2017 | EFUF2017
While some of the EFUF delegates are still enjoing Barcelona, I arrived home this morning after a 16 hour stressless train trip to Brussels (shared with a Swiss delegate up to Paris). The Forum has always been a special event for me, and arriving home is always connected with mixed feelings. Being happy to be at home again, feeling re-energised and full of new ideas, being thankfull for seeing old friends and making new contacts, but feeling a bit lonely without the EFUF family around myself.
The 20th European Forum on Urban Forestry was not only special as it was a jubilee edition, but also for being organised in such a wonderfull city. I didn’t expect Barcelona to be so leafy and was very surprised by vastness and quality of the Collserola park.
We were hosted by Area Metropolitana de Barcelona (AMB) and the Centro Tecnologic Forestal de Catalunya, and I was happily surprised by the active contribution and participation of members of all the co-organizing institutions. Your contribution greatly facilitated the Forum to achieve its aim to be a science-policy-practice interface. This has always been a challenge, and I think this year’s Forum was very successfull in this sense.
The EFUF Steering Group will closely cooperate with the staff at AMB to make the presentations available online in the coming weeks. We also invite you all to write a post for www.efuf.org on your presentation, or on your work in general.
Thanks again to all who contributed, before and behind the curtains. It has been a wonderfull experience, once more.
by Rik De Vreese | May 29, 2017 | Articles
Trees can make a city sidewalk prettier, sure. But that’s not even their best trick. A growing pile of research suggests that planting more urban trees, if done right, could save tens of thousands of lives around the world each year — by soaking up pollution and cooling down deadly heat waves.
In fact, as a
fascinating new report from the Nature Conservancy details, a well-targeted tree campaign could be of the smartest investments a hot, polluted city can make. Which seems important, given that the world’s cities will add about 2 billion people this century, and they’re only getting hotter.
“A lot of cities still think of trees as just ornamentation,” says Rob McDonald, the lead scientist for the Nature Conservancy’s Global Cities program and a co-author of the report. “But they really do so much more than that. And the evidence suggests that we should start thinking of trees as a crucial part of our public-health infrastructure.”
Read the full story on https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2016/11/4/13510352/planting-trees-pollution-heat-waves.
by Rik De Vreese | May 6, 2017 | EFUF2017
Applications are now welcomed for the prestigious European Young Urban Forester of the Year (YUFA) 2017. The closing date for applications is the 29th May 2017. The award, which includes a year’s subscription to Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, a certificate and a cash prize of €200, will be announced at the European Forum on Urban Forestry (EFUF) in Barcelona on the 2nd June 2017.
For Eligibilty and Conditions, consult the dedicated page on the YUFA-award.
Applications are to be made using the European Young Urban Forester of the Year 2017 application form. Please download the form and mail it to the mentioned address.
The winner of the YUFA award will be announced during the closing session of EFUF 2017 in Barcelona.
The award is sponsored by MD² Consulting Ltd and the journal Urban Forestry & Urban Greening.
by Rik De Vreese | Apr 11, 2017 | EFUF2017
The European Forum on Urban Forestry (EFUF) celebrates its 20th anniversary in the metropolis of Barcelona. The congress is open to researchers and professionals from Europe who are interested in reflecting on the urban forest fringe areas as spaces of opportunities that can be connected with and contribute to the territory. Twenty-first century cities have transformed their way of thinking: they have abandoned the idea of a central city with peripheral areas to now view the metropolis as a territorial mosaic of spaces, corridors and flows; a biophysical matrix where green infrastructure structures the territory to the detriment of the role of large transport infrastructure, and where spaces at the edge, on the limit, stop being administrative lines and begin to be seen as strategic spaces for ecology, leisure and production.
Under the title: “Urban Forest Boundaries. Within, between and beyond the city” we raise the importance of urban and peri-urban forests in building a sustainable and healthy landscape. We address issues such as ecological connectivity, compatibility of ecosystem services, biodiversity and disturbances, and the social aspects of forest management and planning those fringe areas in collaboration with the new culture of leisure. For all the above, we invite you to participate in our Congress, so that together we can address the latent problems in the contact and interaction between two realities destined to coexist: the city and open spaces.
More information at efuf2017.amb.cat
Register at http://formacio.ctfc.cat/inscripcions/efuf2017/inscripcio_en.php.
by Rik De Vreese | Apr 10, 2017 | EFUF2017, Survey
In anticipation of the European Forum on Urban Forestry 2017 in Barcelona, a core group of EFUFers have been discussing the state of Urban Forestry in Europe. It seems that Urban Forestry has been too underrepresented and disconnected in Europe. While the European Forum on Urban Forestry has hosted annual Forums for the past 19 years, that’s not enough to fill the void that the rest of the year leaves. Given the growing prominence of Urban Forestry in dealing with urban quality-of-life and climate change issues, the core group suggested to increase the presence of EFUF through a web-driven Urban Forest network, connecting the diverse disciplines that Urban Forest planning, design and management embraces.
In order to determine the direction that such a web presence should take and to find out more about the future role of EFUF, a short questionnaire was created to assess the ideas of professionals, who have an interest in Urban Forestry. The questionnaire was sent out in January and closed in March 2017. It was sent to 677 professionals from Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, Northern and Southern America. The survey registered 276 visits (41%); 170 people responded completely (response-rate of 25%). 82% of the respondents are actually working in Europe.
- 38% of the respondents are female; 48% have a master degree. 45% are working in science and research. 25% of the respondents consider their professional experience as “early career”; 72% indicate “Urban Forestry” as their thematic focus. 44% of the respondents didn’t attend a forum yet; 61% intend to attend a future forum.
- 72% of the respondents think, the forum should be held annually. Sharing of knowledge and exchange between science and practice are considered very important. The respondents wish a sort of continuous organisation with a board, a secretary and an attractive web-presence. Working groups are also considered as very important.
- The benefits of a membership approach are considered in providing contacts and good examples and in early access to new knowledge. 60% are willing to pay a yearly fee for such an association of at least 40 Euro.
The survey showed a big interest in future forums as well in an EFUF-organisation that assures a continuous presence in the web and provides the members with information on a regular basis.
Building on the conclusions of the survey, the core group will present a roadmap at the Barcelona EFUF.
For further details: see the survey report.
