More trees, please — especially in cities — to improve temperatures, air quality and health
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We need to see far more trees planted in our cities and built-up areas generally. And not just for their natural beauty. There’s a solid, practical reason — to provide shade and keep things cooler in an era of rising temperatures and people dying because of heat.
Surveys show overwhelming support for more trees. For instance, a recent study on behalf of Cork City Council found that 92% of people want more parks and green spaces in the city, while 89% want extra trees on city streets.
Global warming and the expansion of the built environment are expected to intensify urban heat, with further adverse effects on people’s health.
A new EU study shows that increasing tree coverage to 30% would lower temperatures by an average of 0.4°C, avoiding about 1.8% of all summer deaths in European cities and nearly 40% of deaths due to excess heat.
In this study, researchers analysed data on 93 European cities to estimate the number of lives trees could save. A 30% rise in tree coverage would lower temperatures to an extent that would prevent 2,644 premature deaths, they found.
A previous study estimated the cooling capacity of trees in more than 600 European cities at between 1.1%, on average, and up to 2.9%.
Cork city is blessed with some fine parks and beautiful trees, with the Leeside Marina area, being developed all the time, being an example.
In the past three years, Cork City Council has planted 9,000 trees, including species such as oak, lime, beech, and rowan. “The benefits will be long-lasting in terms of biodiversity, nature and climate action,’’ commented the council’s tree officer, Thomas Kane.
Fitzgerald Park, Sunvalley Drive, and Ballinlough Park have also seen extensive planting — and even more trees are in plans for the 70-acre Marina Park. The UCC campus alone has well over 2,500 trees.
In Killarney, County Kerry, work is continuing to bring the ambiance of the area’s wooded national park into the town itself. Tree-planting on street sides and flowers/plants on roundabouts are having the desired effect.
The nature restoration law recommends a 10% tree canopy cover for European cities. Other studies have urged 30% tree coverage for urban neighbourhoods to improve temperatures, air quality and health.
The 93 cities in the study include Glasgow and Stockholm, in northern Europe, and southerly cities such as Athens, Palermo, and Seville.
We’ve become accustomed to the cliché ‘leafy suburbs’ to describe middle-class residential areas.
Interestingly then, researchers found that tree distribution within cities is often uneven and the leafy element is lacking in poorer areas. They recommended a bigger focus by tree planners in such areas.