Workshop: Re-thinking how urban trees can help us living in harmony with nature

The WSL Biodiversity Center is pleased to announce its upcoming workshop, “Re-thinking how urban trees can help us live in harmony with nature.” The workshop will bring together scientists and practitioners working in urban ecology and management. The aim is to identify common and divergent themes relevant to practitioners and scientists when considering the contribution of urban trees to biodiversity.

Since 1990, an unprecedented shift towards urbanization has resulted in a 40% increase in people living in urban areas worldwide. As a consequence, 84% of the European population, and 68% of the world’s population will live in urban areas by 2050. Urban trees are probably the most important element of urban environments for promoting biodiversity. Yet, their management often does not account for their contribution to biodiversity conservation and promotion and diverges from the evidence-based recommendations provided by scientists. At the same time, scientific advice does not often account for real-world settings, socio-economic constraints, or trade-offs with other societal needs.

The workshop will bring together scientists and practitioners working in the field of urban ecology and management to foster the exchange of knowledge and experiences. The aim is to identify the priorities and harmonize the activities between science and practice to maximize the contribution of urban trees to biodiversity. The specific objectives are (i) to identify discrepancies between science and practice in urban tree management for biodiversity and (ii) to review the contributions of urban trees to the 23 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) targets for 2030.