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Commonwealth
Forests | | |
 URBAN FORESTRY
Trees have been planted in towns and cities along roads and in parks to add to the landscape,
for ornamentation and to give shade in every Commonwealth city for many years. More
recently their role in reducing pollution, both from the noise of vehicles and from air-borne
particles has attracted attention, while the need for peri-urban forests has been recognised.
Half of the world’s people now live in cities - even in forest-rich Canada 78% of the people live
in urban centres - and it is projected that within the next 50 years, two thirds of the world’s
population will do so (World Urban Forum, 2006). More parks and other open public spaces
will be required for recreation – which implies more urban trees. More than half the developing
world’s urban population lives in slums and sadly, since this proportion is unlikely to decrease
greatly as the cities expand, this will offer urban trees the opportunity to fulfil more than their
traditional functions. They could, for example, provide wood for construction and domestic
energy, stabilise hillsides, drain swamps and rehabilitate sites, even generate income.
Introduced species were formerly used in urban tree planting - the Jacaranda on Uhuru
Highway in Nairobi or the plane trees in London streets - but now there is a move towards the
planting of indigenous species in some cities. Urban tree planting in colonial days was often
initiated by the forest service, but this role was soon taken over by city authorities who have
given increasing responsibility to the units responsible for urban parks and gardens.
The challenges will be, and are, to make adequate provision for the maintenance of ambitious
urban forestry projects, not just their implementation. Tree species must be matched not only
to the site characteristics but to their likely influence on roads and buildings as they develop.
Greater numbers of trained professionals will be required, with skills in multi-disciplinary urban
planning and management, as well as training in the social sciences.
Connecting urban societies with the natural world, the theme of the 2006 National Conference
of the UK’s Institute of Chartered Foresters, sums up the opportunities to link urban people to
nature through urban forestry. The practice of urban forestry and of arboriculture, formerly the
poor relations of the forestry profession, are now assuming greater importance.
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