Why are urban forests important?

Urban forests help filter air and water, control stormwater, conserve energy, and provide habitat and shade for animals. They add beauty, form and structure to urban design.

urban forests

provide valuable ecosystem services, such as eliminating air pollution, carbon storage, oxygen production and preventing runoff. Species distribution and tree size are important factors that control the present and future supply of these ecosystem services.

Considerable attention is needed in forest establishment selection, protection and management of species to meet current and future demands for ecosystem services. Demand for these ecosystem services is increasing in urban population centers. However, development strategies often encompass natural spaces rather than renovating existing (underutilized) spaces, since new development is less costly than. Urban forests need management and protection strategies to meet the challenge this presents.

The quantification and valuation of ecosystem services are tools that urban forest managers can use to protect mature and high-value trees during development planning. Other benefits of urban forests, such as improved health, emotional well-being and energy savings, should also be included in any assessment of urban forests. Urban forests can have a positive impact on cities and, especially, on their population. They can contribute to people's physical and mental health by creating spaces for physical activity and cushioning stress.

In addition, they can improve air quality by eliminating harmful pollutants, as well as reducing noise. From a social standpoint, urban forests can support local livelihoods, improve community cohesion, increase food security for marginalized communities, promote urban residents' connection with nature, and improve equity. For example, small land areas reused in pocket parks with trees and seats can become spaces for social interaction. Trees Help Combat Climate Change.

Urban environments can contribute to mental fatigue and stress. Including trees in urban areas can create a restorative and peaceful environment that helps people recover from stress and fatigue. Urban forests are all trees, forests and associated vegetation that grow in or very close to cities, towns and communities where people live, work and play. Urban tree planting efforts, whether through green belts, parks, windbreaks, or shade trees around residential homes, can play an important role in carbon sequestration.

Communication skills are important, as urban foresters are often called upon to present problems, problems and changes related to urban forestry practices to various audiences, such as city councils and community groups. Although the focus of global policy on the potential of urban forests is increasing, a report published by the University of Copenhagen suggests that urban forests are not a new phenomenon and are certainly not uncommon in European cities. A number of countries, including Egypt, Kuwait, Peru and Yemen, use wastewater in their urban forests (Smit et al. A timely and accurate database of urban forest characteristics is essential for urban forestry to ensure the continuous supply of its services for human well-being.

It emerged as a discipline in North America in response to better ways to deal with the growing importance of urban green spaces dominated by trees, as well as increasing pressures on green areas. Quantitative information on these benefits helps land use planners, local governments and decision makers to see the contributions that are often overlooked in urban forests and can help plan where to continue to plant trees within a complex urban environment. The project, which focuses on the intangible benefits of simply spending time in a forest environment, also sheds light on the importance of forests in building social networks and strengthening community efforts to protect and promote forest resources. The term urban forest refers to all trees and shrubs present in urban areas, including trees in courtyards and streets, protected green areas, and urban or linear parks.

The researchers concluded that in Europe's most densely populated countries, almost 20% of forest area can be found in urban or peri-urban areas (natural areas or agricultural land adjacent to urban areas), specifically 2 km from cities. A healthy urban forest that helps individual households and the wider community save energy also reduces the need for energy-producing power plants. Urban forests come in different shapes and sizes, including urban parks, street trees, greenways, river corridors, gardens and wetlands. Puskar Khanal, PhD, Adjunct Professor, Department of Forestry and Environmental Conservation Thomas Straka, PhD, Professor, Department of Forestry and Environmental Conservation.

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