- Researchers policymakers, and civil society gathered at the African Urban Forest Forum in Johannesburg to discuss the role of urban forests in African cities.
- The forum centered on how trees can make cities more climate-resilient, providing more equitable access to green spaces, and finding sustainable financing strategy for urban forests.
- In a declaration at the end of the forum, participants called for greater collaboration to increase tree canopy cover in cities and address the combined challenges of rapid urbanisation, climate change and historical inequalities.
JOHANNESBURG — Urban forests create employment, provide quality space for recreation and tourism and strengthen city neighbourhoods’ capacity to adapt to extreme heat, flooding, and pollution that are exacerbated by climate change. These were among the affirmations made by researchers, policymakers, and representatives of non-governmental organizations who gathered in Johannesburg, South Africa, last week for the second African Forum on Urban Forests.
Hosted by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the City of Johannesburg, UN-Habitat, and the Centre on African Public Spaces (CAPS), the four days of the forum focused on the role urban forests and green spaces can play in the life of Africa’s cities.
“Parks, street trees and urban woodlands provide a refuge from the stresses of city life, fostering community cohesion and improving quality of life,” said Babagana Ahmadu, the FAO’s representative in South Africa said in his opening remarks. Africa’s urban population is projected to double from 700 million today to 1.4 billion by 2050.
This growth means increased demand for housing, infrastructure, and services, and additional pressure on natural resources and green spaces. But participants at the forum agreed that despite widespread recognition of the benefits, the quality, distribution, and access to green spaces in African cities is inadequate and unequal.
“We need to focus on reducing inequality and access to services and overcoming issues of environmental justice,” said Jessica Thorn from University of Namibia. “Green spaces should not be considered a luxury good for the more affluent, but an opportunity for all.”
Participants also emphasized the need to involve local communities in planning and maintaining green spaces, and integrating indigenous knowledge systems into urban forestry strategies to get the most from them.
The role that urban forests can play in adapting to climate change — providing “nature-based solutions” to climate-linked problems like rising temperatures and extreme weather — was a central question at the forum.
Among the initiatives presented were case studies of the use of green spaces for flood mitigation in the Malagasy capital, Antananarivo, and the expansion of the tree canopy as a measure against extreme heat in Kampala, Uganda.
“This year our temperatures rose to 37 degrees,” said Padde Daniel from the Kampala Capital City Authority. Since 2016, KCCA has included the maintenance and development of green spaces in its Climate Change Action Plan, but Daniel said municipalities need to do more to truly integrate green spaces into their planning frameworks.
“African cities are suffering from the gap of structured planning — how do we plan for floods or for the heat? Planning is our biggest problem,” he told Mongabay.
Funding to sustain and expand urban forestry initiatives across the continent was another preoccupation for those at the forum. While investments in green finance globally are increasing, Africa receives only a small fraction of these funds. The majority of green finance is allocated to mitigation projects in Western Europe and East Asia; African cities remain underfunded and often lack resources for adaptation efforts.
“We need to hold the private sector accountable for their role in the destruction [of green spaces], and that the investment from them is needed. We need to leverage public revenue but also leverage private funding,” said Nokutula Mhene from the United Nations Development Program.
Currently, most urban greening projects in Africa are funded by local government agencies and large multilateral finance institutions like the African Development Bank and the World Bank. According to research presented by Sylvester, the private sector plays only a minimal role in supporting urban forestry initiatives.
In a declaration issued at the close of the forum, participants called for inclusive, multi-functional, better managed and distributed green spaces. The Johannesburg Declaration said multi-functional, resilient, and sustainable green spaces needed to be maintained and expanded, and that these should be “designed for diverse physical, social, and cultural needs, safe, well-maintained, and equipped with necessary facilities, and developed with local residents in the planning and maintenance to ensure they meet community needs.”
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Banner image: Karura Forest, Nairobi, Kenya. Image by Ninara via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)
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