While cities are responsible for an estimated 75% of all carbon dioxide emissions globally, they are also particularly vulnerable to climate change, which is driving an increase in stress, floods, droughts and other impacts in and around cities.
Urban nature can simultaneously reduce the carbon footprint of cities and increase their resilience. Urban nature-based solutions can solve multiple local, national and global challenges while delivering conserving biodiversity, advancing climate action and supporting sustainable development.
Since 2019, UNECE’s Joint ECE/FAO Section on Forestry and Timber has been working with cities on high-impact nature-based solutions and launched the Trees in Cities Challenge. It invites mayors and local governments to make a tree planting pledge to support greener, more sustainable, healthier, food secure and climate resilient cities.
UNECE’s Informal Expert Network on Urban Nature was established in 2021 to provide a forum for knowledge exchange, coaching and capacity building as well as peer-to-peer learning to strengthen management of urban nature, particularly trees and forests.
These and other activities promote urban nature as a high-impact, cost effective solution for cities facing the multifaceted challenges of climate change.
Tree Policy and Action Lab (Tree-PAL)
The UNECE Tree Policy and Action Lab (Tree-PAL) supports cities and countries to plan, manage and expand urban trees and nature as a nature-based solution for local, national and global goals.
Aligning policy and action across levels of government is essential to efficiently deliver both local and national objectives Tree-PAL supports capacity and helps build an architecture to support first movers and drive systemic change to implement.
At the city level, Tree-PAL supports planning, governance and long-term implementation & finance. Building on City-level insights, Tree-PAL supports policy and action for a systemic national approach to implement urban trees and nature as a nature-based solution.
Trees for Resilience Green Cities: Strategic Screening and Action Toolkit
Optimising the services and benefits provided by trees and forests in urban and peri-urban areas requires a strategic and comprehensive approach to planning and management. To support cities with implementing this approach, UNECE developed the Trees for Resilient Green Cities Strategic Screening and Action Toolkit with the generous support of the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment.
Designed for cities, this toolkit includes a scorecard, template implementation scheme and resources to support planning and is available for download and use in the following formats:
PDF - Not fillable
Word - Fillable
For more information
Read the Sustainable Urban and Peri-Urban Forestry Policy brief
Watch the Trees in Cities Challenge video
Discover how urban trees are key to global biodiversity
Watch the short film "Why trees?"
Listen to the first episode of The UN Forest Podcast "Urban forests hosted by Stefano Boeri" on your favorite platform: Spotify, Apple Podcast, Amazon Music, Soundcloud