Fill European cities with trees thereby contributing to solving the socio-environmental challenges arising from sustainability. target Erasmus+ Uforest project co-financed by the European Commission and supported by an international consortium Universities, public administrations and companies with Spanish participation whose aim is to offer a new approach to urban forestry.
The project starts from the following foundation: urbanization is a “world trend”. According to the United Nations (UN), 55.5% of the world’s population currently lives in urban areas, with this ratio expected to reach 68% by 2050 and to 84% in Europe that year.
Increasing urbanization and concentration of population in cities environmental and health problems. Experts agree that these developments negative impacts on the quality of life, biodiversity and resilience in cities, and the health and well-being of citizens and the environment. In fact, some studies show that having trees within 100 meters of residence improves mental health.
In order to encourage objective and solution-oriented action to overcome these challenges, two important approaches have emerged in recent years.
The first of these, 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) It has been approved by the UN as a joint global plan to address economic, social and environmental issues with a view to 2030. nature-based (inspired and supported) solutions (NbS).
Urban forests are considered as effective NbSUforest emphasizes “benefits for human well-being and biodiversity, as they help address global and social challenges.”
Benefits of urban forests
Urban forestry is an interdisciplinary field. which studies, plans, implements and manages urban forests as the tree-based component of a broader urban green infrastructure. “The aim of the project is to promote the psychological, sociological, aesthetic, economic and environmental benefits that urban forests provide to society,” say the project’s promoters.
Then, urban forestry ‘can play a key role’ in achieving SDGs“To improve the sustainability of cities, provide clean water, increase income and job opportunities, promote outdoor recreation, promote biodiversity, promote a green economy, and contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation.”
Going one step further, promoting innovation in urban forestry can further increase these benefits and provide more effective, efficient and equitable results.
“Innovative approaches in urban forestry can optimize services while solving local environmental and social problems from a multidisciplinary perspective.”says Uforest.
However, he stresses that there is still a need to “explore innovation in urban forestry, scale such initiatives and strengthen collaboration between different actors as well as across disciplines, and facilitate the co-creation of knowledge”.
Finally, urban forestry should go “hand in hand” with entrepreneurshipRecognizing urban forests as “crucial contributions to greener, healthier, more resilient and livable cities”, Uforest is committed to researching sectors and creating new opportunities, as they help “better adapt to and mitigate the adverse effects of climate change”. ” says. .
“Urban forests improve the quality of air and water, support biodiversity, improve people’s health and well-being, and reduce the high temperatures of modern cities,” the project’s backers say.
Innovative and profitable solutions
For all these reasons, to meet your current and future changing needs, many cities around the world set ambitious urban reforestation goals. However, they face high costs and require long-term citizen participation and institutional capacities. implementing urban forestry solutions.
From this reality and these needs arise uforest (full title is “European Alliance Project on Interdisciplinary Learning and Entrepreneurial Innovation for Urban Forests”), a three-year project “Alliance for Knowledge”It is co-financed by the Erasmus+ Program of the European Commission.
Creates a project cross-industry alliances that bring universities, companies and public administrations together often non-collaborative disciplines such as forestry and urban ecology, as well as socio-economics and information and communication technologies (ICT), as well as urban planning and architecture.
Alliance is the foundation of development. new training and support for students and professionals works on innovative urban forestry projects.
idea facilitate the flow of information among project members; encourage multidisciplinary education on urban forestry; Y promoting innovative and profitable solutions Urban forestry and business ideas.
The Spanish participants in this ambitious project supported by Brussels: Autonomous University of Barcelona, Center for Ecological Research and Forest Practices (CREAF), forest management and innovation consultancy Agresta. Organizations from the Netherlands, Sweden, Ireland, Romania, Finland and Italy are also participating.
Uforest website: https://www.uforest.eu/
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