Side Event: The city of the future is a green city: why we need trees in our cities for the SDGs

Background

Urban forests are a proven, cost-effective solution to develop greener, healthier, and more resilient cities and deliver the SDGs and climate action.  Vibrant communities are rooted in trees that promote health benefits for all city dwellers and help mitigate the effects of a changing climate, keeping cities liveable and safe on the way to reaching SDG 11.

These benefits can be maximized by increasing urban forest cover access for all through inclusive planning, enabling civil society engagement for integrative, customized local solutions. Green neighbourhoods foster economic development, making an investment in trees a prerequisite for harvesting multi-level benefits.

To optimize the provision of urban ecosystem services, stakeholders on local and national, public and private level need to collaborate on sustainable stewardship of urban greening strategies, to futureproof our cities and contribute to achieving global goals.