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Cities4Forests: supporting cities for better forests
The world is rapidly urbanising – more people than ever live in cities. To make our cities more liveable and climate-resilient, Cities4Forests is bringing cities together to better conserve, manage, and restore forests. This includes ‘inner’ forests in the urban environment; ‘nearby’ forests that supply clean water, jobs, and recreation; and ‘faraway’ forests that help to keep climate change in check. Cities4Forests supports peer-to-peer learning and provides technical assistance to improve policies and promote local action. Together, we can ensure forests can support residents’ health & wellbeing, climate resilience, water management and biodiversity. #Cities4Forests
Cities depend on forests—and can do a lot to support them. More than half of humanity already lives in cities, and it is likely this will increase to over 2/3 by 2050. Because urban areas are increasingly where people live and work, the public policies and procurement practices of cities—as well as the values, votes, and consumption patterns of citizens—have enormous potential to support the conservation, restoration, and sustainable management of forests. Many cities already support forests in some way, from parks and urban forests to “green infrastructure” and watershed management programs. Few, if any, have efforts to support the faraway forests that are vital for combating climate change.