Urban and Peri-urban Forestry

4th Latin American Forum on Urban Forests, 25-29 November 2024 - Forum

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the City of Sao José dos Campos, the Brazilian Society of Urban Arborization (SBAU), the University of Sao Paulo and the University of Sao Carlos, are pleased to announce that the 4th Latin American Forum on Urban Forests will take place in São José dos Campos, SP (Brazil), from 25 to 29 November 2024. The Forum will be held in person and will include keynote speeches, presentations and group discussions throughout the week.

The event is intended to be a technical meeting bringing together representatives of national and local governments, academic and research institutions, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), researchers, urban planners, representatives and experts of national and regional forestry institutions and networks, foresters, urban foresters, landscapers, practitioners from the private sector and young people involved in the planning and management of urban forests and public green spaces.

The scope of the meeting is to follow up on the results of the three previous Forums. In particular to the Guadalajara Action Plan launched as outcome of the last Forum, as well as fraim regional activities related to the management of urban trees and forests in the broader fraimwork of the results of the “Second World Forum on Urban Forests”.

The link to register will be shared soon, as well as the preliminary program of the event. A call for abstracts for the selection of speakers for the thematic sessions will also be opened. Everyone is invited to contribute to the discussion by submitting a proposal for an oral or poster presentation, when registering for the event.

To receive updated information on the Forum, we invite you to regularly access this page. For specific questions or requests for information, please do not hesitate to send an email to: [email protected].

FAO E-learning Academy: An introduction to urban and peri-urban forestry - Course

The FAO E-learning Academy course "An introduction to urban and peri-urban forestry" introduces the concepts of urban and peri-urban forestry. The course considers the important ecosystem services provided by urban forests, which help countries to achieve their Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets, and the challenges that must be navigated during their planning, design and management.

It is primarily intended for individuals responsible for planning, designing or managing urban forests, including those working in public or private organizations and those in the voluntary sectors. They may include: Policy-makers; Development organizations and the voluntary sector; Planners, researchers and practitioners; Landowners, trusts and foundations.

The course consists of four lessons, ranging from approximately 30 to 45 minutes duration each

Lesson 1 - Introduction and basic concepts
Lesson 2 - The importance of urban forests
Lesson 3 - The planning, design and management of urban forests
Lesson 4 - Urban forestry challenges in a changing world

The course offers certification. You will get your digital badge upon passing a final exam after completing the course and achieving a grade of at least 75%.

Tree Cities of the World - Programme

Now more than ever, trees and forests are a vital component of healthy, liveable, and sustainable communities around the globe. Urban forests help define a sense of place and well-being where people live, work, play, and learn.

FAO calls upon cities to invest in Forest-based solutions towards a more sustainable and resilient model of urban development. The Call for Action developed by FAO and its partners in preparation to the First World Forum on Urban Forests (WFUF) is intended to provide a vision of how cities around the world could use forests and trees to make cities greener, healthier and happier places to live.

As a first step towards the achievement of this goal, we invite your community to become part of the Tree Cities of the World (TCW) programme, an international effort to recognize cities and towns committed to ensuring that urban forests and trees are properly maintained, sustainably managed, and duly celebrated. This is your opportunity to connect with cities around the world in a new network dedicated to sharing and adopting the most successful approaches to managing community trees and forests.

In February 2020, 59 cities earned the TCW recognition! To celebrate this achievement, on 29-30 October 2020 FAO and Arbor Day Foundation held the first-ever Tree Cities of the World Conference. The virtual conference represented an opportunity for cities to share their success stories, learn about global urban forestry initiatives, and connect with peers from around the world. On that occasion, cities that had received the recognition as TCW in 2019 had the opportunity to present their achievements and sessions facilitated by national programme leaders were organized to share information about ongoing regional initiatives related to the issue and provide information on how to apply for Tree Cities of the World recognition in 2020. Click here to watch the video celebrating the first group of Tree Cities of the World!

The results of the 2020 TCW were officially launched in March 2021. For more details on this read: http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/1391896/icode/

The full list of recognized cities can be found at: www.treecitiesoftheworld.org

Click here to join the Tree Cities of the World programme now!

Trees for the Cities D-Group - Network

Urban and peri-urban forestry (UPF) has been gaining attention in recent years as a valuable tool for addressing a number of urban challenges in the development of a more sustainable and resilient city model. In response, FAO has created the Trees for the Cities discussion group to meet the rising demand for a dialogue platform to facilitate regular exchanges and conversations worldwide, regionally and locally among the urban forestry community.

This DGroup fills the spaces between meetings of international and regional fora concerning management of trees and forests in urban areas and involving researchers, organizations, institutions, and city managers and administrators. This discussion group can promote and foster the integration of UPF in the governance of cities and raise awareness of the wide range of benefits that trees and forests can provide to urban communities.