This paramount question kicked off the second day of the Urban Forestry Days (23 – 24 March 2021), organised by the European Forest Institute (EFI) together with the European Forum on Urban Forestry (EFUF) and the Horizon 2020 CLEARING HOUSE project. Three distinguished speakers from all around the globe shared their expertise and we asked them to let us in on the latest research on the impact of forests on both physical and mental human health. Read more
The 2nd International Forest City Conference was held on 6 and 7 April 2021, in Nanjing, China, sponsored by the National Forestry and Grassland Administration of China (NFGA), Nanjing Municipal People’s Government and International Bamboo and Rattan Organisation (INBAR) and organized by Nanjing Municipal Greening and Landscape Bureau, International Centre for Bamboo and Rattan (ICBR) and the Urban Forest Research Center of NFGA.
Forests and urban green spaces are essential elements in the urban environment, providing multiple ecosystem services as well as beneficial effects on physical and mental health. The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic along with other major environmental challenges such as climate change have made stakeholders ponder on how to deal with complex health crises in urban settings.Read more
Previous CLEARING HOUSE blogposts highlighted the importance of school-related green and blue spaces for children’s wellbeing, especially during the COVID19 pandemic and for those living in disadvantaged neighborhoods. This new post presents a recent study published by VUB and ICTA-UAB researchers in the scientific journal “Landscape and Urban Planning” which examines the amount and typology of urban nature within and around 324 primary schools of Barcelona from an equity perspective. Results show that school-based exposure and access to urban nature is markedly unequal across the Catalan capital.Read more
The full recording of the ‘Reimagining Future Cities: The Green Way‘ is now available. This international conference on greening our cities, and the role of urban forestry and other approaches, was held on March 21st/22nd, 2021.Read more
Recent trends show that more and more cities and metropolitan territories are turning to Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) to help develop more sustainable, resilient and healthy urban spaces. Urban Forests (UF) are a subset of Nature-Based Solutions that build on tree-based urban ecosystems to address societal challenges, Read more
Researchers from EFI and VUB organised a conference session at the third International Forest Policy Meeting (IFPM3) to share their findings on research being undertaken within the CLEARING HOUSE project on the governance of urban forest nature-based solutions and the impact of COVID-19 on urban forests. Read more
The first NetworkNature semester theme running from March to July 2021 is `Nature-based solutions in light of the pandemic‘. Taking nature into consideration as not merely the cause of – but rather as a solution to – the pandemic is crucial to help us support well-being during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and to prevent future ones.Read more
To share experiences and challenges faced when working with different stakeholders on the topic of urban forestry as nature-based solutions (NBS), city representatives from the CLEARING HOUSE project met online, focussing on the broad topic of conflict of interest. To kick-start the discussions, each city representative shortly presented the most prominent dissidence they experience in their city.
Great discussion on leadership across sectors at the EU Forum on Urban Forestry. Characteristics of a good leader?
✅ empathy & emotional intelligence
✅ resilience to keep trying
✅ courage to make decisions
✅ enjoyment of the work
✅ listening & accepting feedback https://twitter.com/efurbanforestry/status/1382680690697900037
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program under Grant Agreement 821242.
