Federica Di Cagno has been awarded the European Young Urban Forester Award 2025! 

Frederca Di Cagno is an urban sustainability specialist with expertise in urban forestry, nature-based solutions (NBS), and sustainable land management.
She has worked across Africa, Europe, and Latin America, developing tools and methodologies to help cities unlock the value of urban nature and mobilize resources for the green transition.

She currently works at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) under the FAO Green Cities Initiative, where she provides technical backstopping to international cooperation projects with a focus on integrating urban forestry into city planning and municipal investment strategies.

She was recognized by the award panel for her outstanding contribution to the development of structured tools and evidence-based valuation frameworks that are adaptable to context and capable of translating the benefits of urban and peri-urban forestry into clear investment logic. Among these is the step-by-step guide “Capturing the Value and Making the Business Case for Nature-Based Solutions”, developed under the EU Horizon 2020 CONEXUS project.

Ayanda Roji received a special award for organising the African Forum on Urban Forestry!

Ayanda Roji is a practitioner at the Johannesburg City Council and the Coordinator of the Centre on African Public Spaces (CAPS). She convenes projects, dialogues, and strategic partnerships that champion inclusive, just, and humanE public spaces at the heart of African cities. As a convener of the 2nd African Forum on Urban Forests, Ayanda—on behalf of the City of Johannesburg and CAPS, in collaboration with FAO and UN-Habitat—successfully led a continental gathering in March 2025 that brought together urban forestry experts, policymakers, international partners, scholars and community actors to discuss the role of urban forests in shaping the resilience of African cities. Through CAPS, Ayanda connects governments, the private sector, universities, international partners, communities, and civil society organisations to collectively advance a vision of public and green spaces that foster social integration, resilience, and well-being. With a solid academic background in social sciences and experience in urban development, environmental education and local governance, Ayanda is deeply committed to amplifying African voices and practices in shaping the continent’s urban future.