The City of Belgrade is pleased to announce the 24th European Forum on Urban Forestry (EFUF). The Forum will be held from 17-21 May 2022 in Belgrade, Serbia. The Forum theme is adaptive measures in urban forests.
EFUF 2022 will be a great opportunity to learn about new and cutting-edge research on adaptive measures in urban forest and an opportunity to discuss with inspiring practitioners, advanced researchers and sector-leading policymakers on how to improve urban forest management in a rapidly changing world.
Mark your calendars to experience the Urban Forests of Serbia and meet and greet urban forestry colleagues you may have not seen since the 2019 in person EFUF in Germany.
Further details and details of the registration process will be issued in autumn 2021.
Did you know that urban trees and forests provide vital infrastructure for healthy and happy people? Are you aware that they are protecting and enhancing biodiversity and co-creating a climate-adapted built environment?
Three recently awarded ‘Tree Cities of the World’; City of Ljubljana, Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB) and Brussels Capital Region are taking the lead on promoting the crucial role of urban trees towards greener and more resilient cities and urban regions. The three cities and regions differ in character but have demonstrated a commitment to urban trees within the framework of urban forestry, green infrastructure and the enhancement of local ecosystem services.
The ‘tree awakening’ is a partner event of the EU Green Week. The European Forum on Urban Forestry (EFUF), European Forest Institute (EFI) and CLEARING HOUSE project, brought together these three cities and regions to kick-off anactivity – focus – celebration of trees and to build and strengthen existing relationships across Europe. The ‘tree awakening’ event invited practitioners, researchers, policymakers, journalists and citizens eager to explore ways to work together towards a greener and more resilient future in cities.
Christophe Vanoerbeek, the Brussels Mobility CEO said:
“Brussels is regularly cited as one of the greenest cities in Europe, with an impressive surface area of 4,000 hectares of green spaces. Brussels Mobility manages 30,000 trees along the main roads. To increase the ecosystemic benefits (landscape, biodiversity, water infiltration, shading, heat reduction, CO2 capture, etc.), we encourage the development of high trees. The management of plantations has evolved enormously to take into account biodiversity and new methods. For example, Brussels Mobility takes care of +/- 15 hectares of ecological zones and flower meadows.”
Antoni Farrero, General Coordinator of the Technical Office of Management of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona (AMB),added:
“Belonging to international networks, such as the European Forum on Urban Forestry (EFUF) or the Tree Cities of the World, encourages us to continue working towards the renaturation of urban fabrics, the reinforcement of green infrastructure and the promotion of ecosystem services.”
Nataša Jazbinšek Seršen, Head of Department for Environmental Protection at the City of Ljubljana, continued:
“Looking at Ljubljana is looking at a city of the future! Numerous city trees and forests connect us, contribute to the health and well-being of citizens and give a unique backdrop to the Green capital.”
Call for Action:
We urge citizens and local leaders and decision-makers across urban regions in Europe to be inspired and step up towards recognising, building awareness, communicating and taking ownership of the benefits of urban trees for all living being in a city.
It’s not just planting but caring: There’s much more to enhancing urban green then just planting trees – caring for, respecting, and ensuring a long lifetime of an urban tree is crucial to ensure it develops its ecosystem potential. However, urban tree care remains a great challenge for those managing urban regions.
Caring for life – from seed to soil: Brought up in nurseries, going through adolescence and calling for pruning from time to time, dispersing seeds and finally returning back to the soil. A tree’s life is not that different from ours – and calls for a lifetime of care.
Trees – you get more than you see: Green space planning needs to focus on the benefits of trees both individually and when growing together. Considering trees as an ecological umbrella covering an urban region is fundamental to understanding their overall benefit to society.
Big Trees Matter: Urban regions need veteran trees as these provide the most ecosystem services and are the most important to people. Whilst planting new trees is important the loss of a mature tree before its lifetime is over takes generations to recover.
Elisabeth Pötzelsberger, Head of Resilience at the European Forest Institute (EFI) and Chris Baines, environmental campaigner, award-winning writer and broadcaster opened up the event, joined by high-level representatives from the European Union, the ‘Tree Cities of the World’ representatives from Slovenia, Spain, Belgium and international urban forestry experts.
Chris Baines reported:
“Mature trees have been breathing life into our towns and cities for centuries. Now, in the face of climate change, increasingly extreme weather patterns, relentless development pressure and stressful urban living, the moderating role they play is more important than ever.”
Speaker Session
Please click on the titles to have a look at the detailed presentations:
Thomas Randrup, professor in Urban Open Space Management and Head of Subject for Landscape Governance and Management at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) shed light on the importance of moving from Nature-Based Solutions to Nature-Based Thinking. He emphasised:
“Nature-based Thinking is a way to address Nature-based Solutions as places in their own right rather than installations, helping them to become more resilient and sustainable.”
Simone Borelli, Agroforestry and Urban/Periurban Forestry Officer at the Forestry Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), presented the ‘Tree Cities of the World’ and stated:
“It is time to shift paradigm. Urban forests and trees should no longer be seen as a cost, but as an investment in the future of cities. The Tree Cities of the World programme celebrates the achievements of the cities that are taking steps in the right direction.”
Cecil. C. Konijnendijk van den Bosch, global urban forester and director of the Nature-Based Solutions Insitute (NBSI) introduced the 3-30-300 rule, shared his experience on the importance of trees in cities and explained:
“For someone who has worked in urban forestry for almost three decades, it is exciting to see the current ‘tree awakening’ across Europe, as we have come to realise how important trees are for our health, wellbeing, and happiness.”
During an interactive Q&A session, participants had the opportunity to engage in discussions with the speakers, moderated by John Parker, CEO at the Arboricultural Association. This was followed by a technical panel discussion moderated by Clive Davies, Convenor of the EFUF International Steering Group, Senior Researcher, Advisor and Facilitator at European Forest Institute (EFI) Governance and Resilience Programmes and CLEARING HOUSE project, which explored the opportunities and challenges of managing trees in urban regions. The virtual stage featured insights by Nejc Praznik, Consulting arborist at JP VOKA SNAGA, Ljubljana, Valérie Decoux, Bio-Engineer at the Brussels Mobility, Public Service of the Brussels Capital Region and Antoni Farrero, General Coordinator of the Technical Office of Management of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona (AMB).
The ‘tree awakening’ opened an inspiring and positive discourse about the manifold benefits and challenges of managing trees in urban regions without dodging difficult questions. The insights and discussions serve as an impulse and starting point to awake consciousness and activate decision-makers to take practical action on transforming concrete jungles towards liveable shared spaces with multifunctional, interconnected and open, accessible green spaces for all.
As part of the ‘tree awakening’ self-guided tree discovery walks have been created for the City of Ljubljana, the Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB) and the Brussels Capital Region. These walks are designed to help the public explore the trees in these areas, whether as residents in-situ, virtual or actual visitors.
The self-guided tree discovery walks are presented through the ActionBound app and are intended as an inspiration to other urban regions to produce further walks.
The walks can be explored at any time through the ActionBound app.
Download the app by clicking on this link or scanning the QR-Code:
Access the tree discovery walks by clicking on the links below or by scanning the QR-Codes:
Brussels Capital Region
English version: https://en.actionbound.com/bound/aTreeAwakeningBrusselsCapitalRegion
The City of Ljubljana, the Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB) and the Brussels Capital Region have all recently been awarded Tree Cities of the World status (TCoW). Bringing together the three cities as a partner event of the EU Green Week, European Forum on Urban Forestry (EFUF), European Forest Institute (EFI) and CLEARING HOUSE project, invite you to join an online ‘tree awakening’ activity – focus – celebration of trees to build and strengthen existing relationships at a continental level.
The 2-hour interactive online event is targeted at practitioners, researchers, policymakers and everyone eager to explore ways to work together towards a greener and more resilient future in cities around Europe and beyond.
The ‘tree awakening’ will follow the main theme of the life of a tree in the city, which will be explored by a range of high-level speakers and throughout a technical panel discussion, where participants have the opportunity to engage in an interactive Q&A session.
To round off the ‘tree awakening’, attendees and urban adventurers are invited to explore trees and forests around the City of Ljubljana, the Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB) and the Brussels Capital Region from anywhere around the globe or in-situ to as a self-guided tree discovery excursion to learn about the manifold opportunities and challenges urban green encompasses in these three areas.
PROGRAMME
11 June, 10:30-12:30 CEST
10:30 Opening
Introduction and Welcome – Elisabeth Pötzelsberger (EFI)
Inspirational Speech – Chris Baines, environmental campaigner
From March to May 2021, the European Forum on Urban Forestry is organising a comprehensive programme with exciting speaker line-ups. Friday mornings, from April to May 2021, held a special surprise – EFUF2021 invited all tree lovers to start off their Friday mornings with an early bird get-together to listen to urban forestry stories told by a range of inspiring speakers. Click here to have a closer look at whom joined in.
All insights are made available as podcasts as well, which you can access easily through the myEFUF app. The free app is available for download from the App Store or Google Play and ready to guide urban forestry enthusiasts through a wide range of online events.
Kicking off the Friday Morning Live guest Rooms on April 9, Dr Urša Vilhar, research fellow at the Forest Ecology Department of the Slovenian Forestry Institute shed light on the importance of getting children and teenagers into the forests and emphasised the benefits of teaching and learning in nature. Dr Vilhar talked about experiences and results from the LIFE+ EMoNFUr project, which monitored urban forests in Milan and Ljubljana during a 3-year period. She further presented different activities and online resources that support learning activities in nature, looking at children and teenagers as opinion shapers and future decision-makers.
Many miraculous things happen in the big forest. So, walk slowly, listen up and keep your eyes wide open.
From teaching materials for teachers and educators, workshops for kindergartens and schools, open days for the general public, special events for families to children’s books and cartoons, online learning resources and outdoor activities designed for children with special education needs in the frame of Erasmus + project Green Learning Environments, Forest planetarium in the frame of the Interreg Danube project URBforDAN – Dr Vilhar showed that there are countless ways to engage children and adults with nature. Do you want to learn more?
This resource is part of the Forest of Experiments collection of the Slovenian Forestry Institute and aims to connect activities with learning experiences through playing in nature. Designed for curious forest enthusiasts of all ages and those willing to gain more knowledge and experience about the manifold processes going on in forests, the handbook follows four main themes: Trees, forest animals, water and genetic diversity. A range of fun activities offer unique opportunities to dive into the forest with all senses and to adapt the learning process to the participants’ individual needs, following the principle of “flow learning”, which takes into account excitement of enthusiasm, focus of attention, direct experience and sharing of inspiration. Read more about the book here or download the PDF version.
Moderated by Jerylee Wilkes-Allemann (Bern University of Applied Sciences), the webinar focused on gender differences in the professional domain of forestry, arboriculture and other typical or less typical activities. Four panellists shared their insights with us:
Yves Kazemi (Cantonal DG for the Environment, Vaud, Switzerland)
The panellists discussed about the importance of empowerment for individuals and communities, role models, confidence building and workplace policies. After a vivid discussion and insightful comments from attendees around Europe sharing their personal experiences regarding gender equality in their daily working life, the panellists concluded that opening the discussion and enhancing visibility is crucial for further steps on the way to promoting gender equality.
Learn more about other exciting upcoming Urban Forestry events here:
Worldwide, urbanised regions are looking for strategies to plant more trees and forests in order to enlarge the urban forest cover. In the light of climate change and the transition to resilient territories, there is a growing understanding of the importance of trees and forests for society.
Flanders (the northern part of Belgium) is one of the least forested areas in Europe and does not succeed in increasing the forest cover. It seems as if there is no space for more trees and forests in this urbanized region, characterized by an extensive urban sprawl and heterogeneous landscape where nearly every square metre of land is intensively occupied. Yet there is quite a lot of space where trees and forests can grow. However, this space often remains ‘invisible‘ because it is related to other types of land use or is ‘untouchable’ because of sectoral claims. There is, with other words, a need to find new spatial systems to intertwine more trees and forests within the built-up fabric.
The aim of the summer school is to explore possibilities and test concepts for tree and forest configurations in an urbanized territory. The focus will be on the interfaces between trees/forest and other types of land use. This means the interfaces where for example housing/working/food production/ mobility meet up and interact with trees and forest, where synergies can arise but ‘frictions‘ as well. Guiding principles are the spatial characteristics of trees and forests, process characteristics and the multitude of contributions that trees and forests provide to people (also refered to as ‘ecosystem services’). The focus will be on landscape-architectural and social-ecological aspects.
During the course of this summer school, a range of lectures of both international and local experts will ‘feed’ the design process. A reader, together with a Treescape Atlas of the study area and a Treescape Catalogue will be provided to the participants before the start of the summer school.
The summer school is linked to the ongoing Treescape research project, focusing on the exploration of new strategies and concepts to intertwine trees and forests in urbanized territories.
Photo by kazuend on Unsplash
Organization
Drs. Bjoke Carron, Prof. Hans Leinfelder, Prof. Jos Van Orshoven (KU Leuven)
With contributions and supervision of Martine De Maeseneer (KU Leuven/ MDMA), Prof. Marta Labastida (University of Minho). Other supervisors and lectures of (international) experts are to be confirmed.
When?
Arrival: before August 19th 2021 Summer school: August 19th-27th 2021
Departure: after August 27th 2021
Application and deadline
Eligible for participation are all (international) master students, recent graduates and young researchers in the fields of Landscape Architecture, Architecture, Urban Design or Urban Planning and Forestry.
Deadline for application: May 15th 2021
Confirmation of acceptance: May 31st 2021
Interested candidates should send their CV, a motivation letter (maximum 300 words in English), including maximum 3 images (150 dpi), to bjoke. carron@kuleuven.be.
Fee
Students enrolled in programmes at participating universities: no registration fee. The participation fee is 200 euros for students who are not connected to the KUL or the University of Minho, but that this amount could be (partly) dropped if the Summer School were to be (partly) online.
Given the current condition of the Covid-19 pandemic worldwide, all summer schools are currently organized with prejudice.
In translations of Plato’s, The Republic, the philosopher says that
“a need or problem encourages creative efforts to meet the need or solve the problem”.
This neatly describes the position that the EFUF international steering group found itself in 2020 when due to COVID-19 the 23rd annual EFUF meeting set for Manchester, UK, had to be cancelled. Perhaps with good foresight, the steering group also thought that the prospects for a ‘present in person’ EFUF in 2021 seemed risky too, which has turned out to be the case. There was concern that unless efforts were made to keep EFUF active during the pandemic, future Forum meetings would be in jeopardy. In the autumn of 2020, EFUF steering group member Bianca Baerlocher proposed the development of a digital platform for EFUF that would provide the opportunity for an on-line Forum to take place in 2021. An editorial steering group was set up to steer this development. The steering group was delighted that the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment, Fachhochschule Graubünden University of Applied Sciences and ArboCityNet took up the challenge of developing a digital platform based on an application called MyEFUF. This was launched in March 2021. MyEFUF is linked to EFUF’s other digital outlets, including the website and social media accounts.
Photo: ArboCityNet
The myEFUF application is the portal to EFUF’s 2021 digital semester, which features a wide range of activities and events. In March, the opening event called ‘Urban Forestry Days’ with support from a range of organisations, including the European Forest Institute (EFI) and the Horizon 2020 CLEARING HOUSE project, attracted a large international audience not only in Europe but globally. The EFUF 2021 semester continues until the end of May, but the platform will continue throughout the year, for example, an event in June 2021 is already well developed. The platform also includes a marketplace for partner events (please use it) and an ability to share posters and other digital content. More information about the app and how to download it can be found here. In summary, there are a wide range of upcoming events, and if a mobile app is not your favourite platform, these can also be accessed at https://efuf.org/programme/
Having started the digital platform, there are other interesting and exciting developments planned, which will be shared through EFUF’s social media in due course. The good news is that whilst the digital platform provides an opportunity for EFUF’s network to stay in touch, we plan to have a present in person forum again in May 2022. Look out for announcements on myEFUF and www.efuf.org
Written by Prof Dr Alan Simson, Chair of the WRF Governance Committee and the WRF Steering Committee
Broughton Sanctuary – a White Rose Forest Project. Credit: Broughton Hall Estate
The White Rose Forest (WRF) was initially launched in the City of Leeds on Yorkshire Day – 1st August – in 2000. Set up as a West Yorkshire Regeneration Initiative, it aims to encourage economic investment and human health and well-being through environmental improvement, in particular through the planting of trees. The WRF has now expanded to include North Yorkshire, and thus now covers an area of some 9424 km².
A Community Forest is a place with a Forestry Plan, and a partnership to deliver that plan. We therefore work in partnership with local authorities, landowners, businesses and communities to plant millions of trees in our urban centres and countryside that will help manage flood risk, combat climate change, create jobs and provide happier and healthier places for us all to live, love, work in and enjoy. The WRF engages with five specific planting zones, comprising the urban forest, the sub-urban forest, the peri-urban forest, the ex-urban forest (commute areas) and rural woodland.
Broughton Sanctuary Community Tree Planting, Credit: Broughton Hall Estate
Each zone requires a specific design approach, and the ex-urban areas are coming under increased pressure to expand as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the shift of employment and habitation away from town and city centres to ‘greener’ localities.
WRF activity is transdisciplinary and adopts a multi-cultural community approach. Get to know the three prime themes running at the moment:
Green Streets: Improving the design of urban streets by reducing traffic, increasing urban green especially street trees and providing better facilities for pedestrians and cyclists;
Landscapes for Water: Planting trees in the right places to help slow the flow of surface water into streams and rivers, thus helping to prevent urban flooding downstream;
Trees for Learning: Working with schools and community groups to promote the concept of urban forestry, enhancing the process of widening and deepening community involvement and connection to the planning, planting and management of their trees and woodland.
WRF planted approaching 2 million trees to date. Once these trees are established, they will also store significant quantities of carbon and help to deliver the Government’s commitment to achieving net zero carbon emissions in the UK by 2050.
Credit: WTML
The WRF is one of four Community Forests in the north of England working together to create the Northern Forest. The Northern Forest was set up by the UK Government in January 2018 as an environmental counterpart to their Northern Powerhouse Strategy, aiming to plant in excess of 50 million trees by 2032 to significantly increase the canopy cover of the region, and to improve the quality of life there for both people and wildlife. The Government has set up a Nature for Climate fund, which has earmarked £12.1 million (over €14 million) for tree planting this season, led by the Community Forests, and the White Rose Forest has benefitted from received £3.7 million (over €4.29 million) from this fund to plant 218 ha of new woodland this season, which has also enabled WRF to increase staff by three.
A Current White Rose Forest Project: Broughton Sanctuary, Broughton Hall Estate
Broughton Sanctuary at Broughton Hall, an estate some 30 km north-west of the City of Leeds, has become home to the largest tree planting scheme to take place in England this season. WRF has planted 160 ha of resilient woodland between December 2020 and April 2021 – the equivalent of 224 football pitches. Tree species have been selected to meet the objectives of biodiversity and to offer maximum resilience to climate change. The genetic provenance of the native species used were carefully considered prior to planting. The woodland area comprises 57% of high to medium forest; 28% of medium forest to scrub (no more than 20% of which are scrub species) and 15% of open ground. The tree planting marks the beginning of an ambitious nature recovery programme that will transform one third of this 1200 ha estate into a much wilder state, thus increasing biodiversity and wildlife. As well as tree planting, early interventions to kickstart the recovery process will include the natural regeneration of trees, scrub and grasslands, the creation and restoration of wetland habitats and sensitive woodland management.
The project has generated considerable media interest, having been featured in five national newspapers, and has appeared on Channel 4 News in the UK. WRF tried to get the title of the video changed – it isn’t the biggest tree planting operation ever undertaken in England – only the biggest undertaken this season. Guess that’s the media for you!
“We surely have to wake up to the fact that respecting and supporting nature has to be a high priority on the ground now. Our lack of a harmonious existence with the Earth is causing the extinction of species across the globe, as well as a deep lack of belonging for humanity […]. We believe that the change we need to see will come through the union of rewilding our ‘outer nature’, such as the nature recovery and rewilding project at Broughton, along with the rewilding of our ‘inner nature’, which perhaps has been the root cause of deforestation and degradation of nature in England. Our health and future as a species depend on the holistic health of our land […]. We are enormously grateful to everyone who has been involved in our nature recovery project so far. A huge thank you to the White Rose Forest, Defra, Kirklees Council and the Environment Agency.”
Roger Tempest, the custodian of the Broughton Hall Estate, and his partner Paris Ackrill, co-founder of Avalon Wellbeing
Community Tree-Planting at Broughton Sanctuary, Credit: Broughton Hall Estate
“We are committed to tree planting and natural regeneration on an unprecedented scale, and part of that will be a major focus on regenerating land alongside our watercourses. The benefits of doing so are vast, from helping biodiversity recover and absorbing carbon, to slowing the flow of surface water and reducing the risks of floods downstream. The rewilding of Broughton Sanctuary is a fantastic example of this, helping to plant trees where they are needed most and offering vital protection from flooding for communities all along the River Aire”.
Lord Goldsmith, UK Government Forestry Minister
Finally…The successful delivery of this project during a particularly challenging planting season has been achieved through close collaboration between Broughton Sanctuary, the White Rose Forest Delivery Team and the Forestry Commission. The new woodland forms part of WRF’s Landscape for Water Programme, that aims to reduce flood risk for urban areas close to major rivers and waterways in North and West Yorkshire, whilst also improving local water quality, biodiversity and recreational opportunities for local communities. The White Rose Forest is proud to support the Broughton Sanctuary in delivering this hugely important project that will help to protect our environment and the local communities along the River Aire, including Leeds. Broughton Sanctuary joins local authorities across Yorkshire in the leadership they have shown in responding to the climate emergency. Thanks to the support we have received from the Government and businesses, the White Rose Forest has never been in a better position to support this response by working with landowners, communities and fellow professionals across the region to plant trees and to deliver the essential long-term environmental and community benefits they can bring.
On the second day of the Urban Forestry Days (23 – 24 March 2021), policy planners, decision-makers, practitioners and researchers from all around the globe gathered online to explore the role of urban forests for health infrastructure. The two-day collaborative event of integrated Urban Forestry activities was hosted by the European Forest Institute (EFI), the European Forum on Urban Forestry (EFUF) and the Horizon 2020 CLEARING HOUSE project and welcomed 750 unique participants from over 68 different countries. The afternoon session on projects exploring linkages between urban green spaces, trees, and human health and well-being invited participants to glimpse through the trees and learn about projects fostering urban green space development.
Glimpsing through the trees, Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
Starting off the session, Annebel Soer (EFI) presented Green4C (GreenForCare), a project looking at nature activities that promote physical and mental well-being, health and social inclusion. The three-year project, co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union, aims to contribute to the development of Green Care entrepreneurial opportunities and to facilitate capacity and skills for students, researchers, professionals and practitioners. New learning approaches and platforms step into place that help develop and enhance knowledge exchange in the field of Green Care.
Walking further down the green path, Tadhg MacIntyre (Maynooth University) took participants on a tour to learn about natural ways to foster urban mental health and well-being: GoGreenRoutes. The project pursues to grow nature-connectedness across Europe, Latin America, and China. Restoring our natural surroundings and ensuring accessibility to urban green spaces are essential steps to promote increased usage of green corridors, increased ways of active mobility, and contributing to society’s health and well-being. A multidisciplinary consortium of 40 organisations teams up to link participatory approaches and citizen science with digital innovation, co-creating so-called “Urban Well-being Labs” in six “Cultivating Cities”, developing a set of environmental quality indicators and exchanging lessons-learnt among different “Seed Cities” and a “Cross-Pollination Network”. Let’s start sowing!
People enjoying a park with multifunctional GBI, Photo by Hector Argüello Canals on Unsplash
How to ENABLE green and blue infrastructure (GBI) potential in complex social-ecological regions? A systematic approach for assessing local solutions was presented by Erik Andersson (Stockholm University Resilience Centre). For society to thrive in urban areas, cities need to provide social and environmental benefits. This can be achieved through well-designed GBI, which comes with significant potential to deliver multifunctional opportunities for social inclusion, health and human well-being, stormwater retention and habitat functions. Focusing on five case study sites, ENABLE examines how and under what conditions people favour those benefits the most. The project further looks into the distribution of GBI benefits among urban residents and their accessibility and how to ensure a GBI benefit-flow in the long run.
So how should a forest look like to make us feel well and to contribute to our health? And can this be aligned with site-specific biodiversity conservation and forest ecosystem management? A group of researchers united within the scope of the Dr. FOREST research project to answer these questions and quantify the impacts of forest diversity on human health and well-being. Michael Scherer-Lorenzen (Freiburg University) gave insights into the effects and underlying mechanisms with which tree diversity in temperate forests influence human health and well-being.
Time to dive into the forests of Belgium. Katriina Kilpi (Nature Minded) introduced the benefits of strategically designed forest bathing trails to enhance resilience, health and well-being and highlighted the need for nearby and accessible nature spaces. Furthermore, Katriina Kilpi presented the International Forest Therapy Days (IFTDays), which provide a meeting place for international forest therapy practitioners, scientists, and people eager to apply nature’s healing effects in their work. Throughout a range of events in nature, participants are invited to learn about different practices, share their knowledge and experience, and expand their tools regarding forest-based health practices.
Experiencing nature with all senses, Photo by Jordan Whitt on Unsplash
It is in our nature to network – Bettina Wilk (ICLEI) introduced NetworkNature, a resource for the nature-based solutions (NBS) community, which aims to spread the word about NBS and to create opportunities to maximise their impact on a local, regional and international scale. Funded by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 programme and guided by strategical impact pathways, NetworkNature seeks to synthesise and strengthen the NBS evidence base and engage existing stakeholders and expand related communities. Further activities aim to ensure a mutual informing between NBS science and the policy agenda and accelerate the uptake of NBS across different sectors. Learn more here.
The session packed with manifold insights on how urban green spaces provide a window to connect with nature, recreate, interact with others and enhance the way we feel was brought to an end with a short discussion. Stay tuned for the Urban Forestry Days recordings to learn more. Do you want to tell others about an exciting project involving urban green spaces and nature-based solutions? Don’t miss the opportunity to engage with other urban forestry enthusiasts through the myEFUF app – here you can upload posters directly to the app or create a local event via the marketplace. Download the app from the App Store or Google Play.
-The CLEARING HOUSE project has received funding from the European H2020 Research and Innovation programme under the Grant Agreement n° 821242.-
In the scope of the Urban Forestry Days (23 – 24 March 2021), young researchers and practitioners from around the globe shared their work amongst an international audience. Clive Davies, Chair EFUF International Steering group, moderated the virtual session and highlighted the relevance of giving young scientists a voice. From street tree pits to Peruvian ecosystem landscapes and LiDAR data - browse through all contributions in one playlist here or dive into it one by one:
Looking ahead to spring and summer 2021 – imagine yourself on a sultry afternoon in the middle of the city centre. A narrow street flanked by buildings might not look like the first choice to take to cool down – or does it? With an extensive range of impermeable hard surfaces in the urban environment, incoming solar radiation is easily trapped and retained, causing the urban heat-island effect, which negatively impacts a city’s liveability as well as health and well-being of its citizens through heat stress. With a multifunctional network of urban green and blue infrastructure stepping into place, heat-reduction measures can be taken. For instance, trees help mitigating heat stress at the street level through shade provisioning and the process of evapotranspiration.
Amelie Claessens (IUCN Urban Alliance; University of Antwerp, Belgium) examines the cooling effect of trees in street canyons with the help of the EUREC-air laboratory of the University of Antwerp and local citizen scientists. To do so, she measures temperature from April 2020 until April 2021 on 37 points throughout three adjacent street canyons with a similar orientation but with different numbers of trees. As a result, a high-resolution map of intrastreet variations will be created. With this map’s help, it will be feasible to carry out comparisons on a spatial and temporal scale, examining heat stress severity to humans. Eager to learn more? Watch Amelie´s contribution here or read more about her research here.
The benefits urban green infrastructure (GI) provides can be harnessed best when involving all stakeholders that benefit directly and indirectly from those. Public awareness is crucial for GI development to be perceived, understood and appreciated widely. However, GI knowledge is mostly shared among professionals. But what about the knowledge of urban residents and their interest in green infrastructure development in residential landscapes? Annie Yuan (University of Toronto, Canada) importantly explored this topic focusing on living green infrastructure (GI) as an emerging concept referring to trees and other vegetated spaces that provide a range of ecosystem services and therefore benefits to citizens. Annie surveyed residents living in the City of Philadelphia, PA, to find out more about what residents already know about the concept of GI and what environmental concerns exist to identify barriers and opportunities to GI development and its management in the long run. Results indicate that most people are interested in recreational aspects and aesthetic values of GI. Explore Annie’s contribution live or scroll through it here to find out more about the future opportunities for GI development in residential landscapes.
Speaking of recreation, there are many different ways that well-being and mental health can be enhanced through activities in woodlands. Becky Duncan and the team of Open Aye C.I.C, Scotland, use creativity in woodlands to enhance mental health amongst diverse groups in their project ‘Wellbeing Of The Woods’. Through a participatory approach and arts therapy practice, this project, supported and funded by Scottish Forestry, engages people from different countries and backgrounds in nature. The setting: Woodlands in Scotland. The equipment: A camera and a backpack packed with all you need for a one-day excursion. Since 2017, over 300 visits to woodlands have been carried out – take yours now.
Given the increasing recognition of tree-based ecosystem services, different politically-driven planting targets have stepped into place in cities worldwide. However, many initiatives neglect crucial topics such as available planting space and growing requirements. Hard landscapes and impermeable soil surfaces do not make tree planting an easy task. High mortality rates of young trees is therefore a common phenomenon. What can be done from an engineer’s perspective to counteract this trend? How can we increase tree growth and long-term survival to help trees reach their species potential and optimise ecosystem services delivery? Dean Bell (Centre for Sustainable Planning and Environments, University of the West of England) invites us to learn about his research on the role of multidisciplinary integration in achieving resilient tree pits in hard landscapes, reporting key concepts of engineered solutions through a literature-informed typology. This research’s key message is that multidisciplinary integration is fundamental in achieving climate-ready, resilient and multifunctional tree pit infrastructure in hard landscapes – read more here.
To adequately monitor and ultimately enhance and protect the ecosystem services provided by urban trees, it is paramount to put these services into the equation. Let’s take a look at the example of Poland: How did the relaxed legislation on tree cutting in 2017 impact urban trees and their provision of ecosystem services? Contributions by two young reseachers from Poland importantly assessed this development. Karolina Zięba-Kulawik (University of Agriculture in Krakow, Poland) used a methodology for combining remotely sensed data with field measurements to assess selected tree parameters to estimate ecosystem services (ES) provided by urban trees. The study team determined values of ES provided by trees in 2017 in Racibórz (Poland) and estimated the loss of ES in a period of changing legislation that temporarily allowed removal of trees on private property without permission from city authorities. A main conclusion drawn is that tree inventories require application of a combination of multi-source data analyses. Learn more about Improving methods to calculate the loss of ecosystem services provided by urban trees using LiDAR and aerial orthophotos.
Trees growing on private property have become an essential part of urban green policies. In many places, restrictions are imposed on tree removal on private property. Monitoring compliance of these regulations often results difficult due to a lack of reference data and public administration capacity. Using a method based on LiDAR allows for monitoring green areas, including private properties, despite these limitations. Patrycja Przewoźna (Adam Mickiewicz University, Poland) applied this method for the impact assessment of the temporary suspension of mandatory permits on tree removal, which was in force in 2017 in Poland. Explore the results about the use of bi-temporal ALS point clouds for tree removal detection on private property, highlighting the importance of regular monitoring of UTC for effective urban tree management. Interested to learn more? Read the full paper.
A new approach to urban green area management was presented by Paolo Viskanic (R3GIS Ltd). The EU-funded LIFE Urbangreen project is trying to improve urban green area management through innovative tools, which help to assess and maximise ecosystem services and prepare cities to better adapt to the effects of climate change. To put this into practice, the main objective is to develop and demonstrate in real-life an innovative technological platform to improve management of green areas in 2 European and one Asian city.
Ramona-Elena Scriban (University Ștefan cel Mare of Suceava, Romania) importantly assessed urban cultural values identified in the forest certification process. Using Romania as a case study, Ramona examined the role of the voluntary forest certification process for the identification of urban cultural values additional to the mandatory forest management planning process and discussed a range of practical examples. Curious about the results? Find out more here.
Last but not least, Sally Torres Mallma (Universidad Ricardo Palma, Peru) took participants on a trip to the Peruvian Lomas Ecosystems Landscape. Her research focuses on integrating Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) in Lomas Ecosystems into urban policies for climate change adaptation. Taking into account Lima’s rapid and uncontrolled urbanisation as well as land traffic and inappropriate use, reflecting climate risk management and adaptation gets ever more important. Sally concluded that inside the landscape approach, Lomas Ecosystems within its environmental, social, and economical components should be considered.
