What does the Public Health Science tell us on forests as health infrastructure?

Blog, Nature-based solutions, NBS events

What does the Public Health Science tell us on forests as health infrastructure?

12 April 20210

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.
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Blog, NBS events

The 2nd International Forest City Conference

9 April 20210

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 in pandemic times

7 April 20210

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

Blog, Nature-based solutions

School greening: right or privilege? The case of Barcelona

2 April 20210

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.

Bonn´s urban forest: Rediscovering an interest in an old friend

2 September 20200

Photo by Jakob Derks (EFI)

During the Coronavirus lockdown period in Bonn (Germany), when visiting the local urban forests and green spaces, we quickly realised that the number of newcomers to urban green spaces and in urban forests significantly increased because people found themselves restricted from meeting others and moving freely.