[CANUFNET] New research on urban forest management in Canada

[cordezbar at gmail.com]

Dear Partners, 

 

The Trees and their socio-ecological effects (Arbres et leurs effets
socio-écologiques, TreeSEE/ArbES) research partnership of the University of
Toronto, Canada, brings to your attention two articles entitled: “A content
analysis of urban forest management plans in Canada: Changes in
social-ecological objectives over time
<https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2024.105154> ”; and “Gaps in the
implementation of urban forest management plans across Canadian cities
<https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2024.105168> ”, both recently
published in the journal Landscape and Urban Planning. Just click on the
links! The articles are Open Access and free to download.

 

In this work, we update previous research
<https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2013.04.007>  on urban forest
management plans (UFMPs) in Canada, which looked at plans when these were
older and less in number. We also fill the research gap regarding how UFMPs
are being implemented. We do this by analysing the content of 74 UFMPs in as
many Canadian cities as well as the views of urban forest managers regarding
UFMP implementation collected through an online survey delivered across
Canada (n=118 responses). This helped addressed the following questions: 1)
how did the content of UFMPs changed over time?; 2) what was the influence
of the social-ecological characteristics of municipalities on this content?;
3) by how much are UFMP objectives being achieved?; and 4) what are the
outcomes of having a UFMP?

 

We found that UFMPs contain ideas related to not just trees but also the
broader environment, urban planning, engineering, development, and
communities. However, while UFMPs contain a lot of ideas related to climate
change, management objectives related to climate change are either not
included in the plans, or not being implemented, or both. UFMP
implementation is advancing, with plans almost 50% implemented. Moreover,
this implementation was not related to municipal characteristics like size,
type of municipality, or language of community (i.e., which in Canada means,
at the broadest level, the difference between French and English
communities), suggesting that Canadian municipalities have shared
experiences in urban forestry. While increasing financial resources is an
expected outcome of having an UFMP, there are also other diverse and
complementary outcomes. 

 

This information has practical applications for urban nature, nature-based
solutions (NBS), urban green infrastructure (GI), climate change adaptation,
and urban biodiversity. These include:

- support business case for planting more urban trees and maintaining them

- develop management considerations for biodiversity conservation and
community stewardship in urban forestry

- consider climate change adaptation in urban forestry more carefully by
conducting vulnerability assessments

- highlight UFMPs as powerful management tools for a climate resilient and
sustainable future in cities

 

We highlight the collaborative and interdisciplinary nature of this work.
This partnership involved many researchers representing various disciplines
and working at various universities across Canada, as well as professionals
working in cities, specifically those usually who developed and implement
UFMPs. They all helped design the study and interpret its results. It is our
career effort to integrate, diversify, and expand scientific and
professional knowledge through collaborative approaches.

 

Please forward any inquiries about this work to the co-authors, emails
attached, or simply “reply to all”.

 

Thank you for your attention. 

 

Sincerely, 

 

 



Department of Geography, Geomatics, and Environment

University of Toronto, Canada

 

In collaboration with:

 

UQAM | Université du Québec à Montréal

Université du Québec en Outaouais (UQO)

Dalhousie University

Regional Municipality of York

Ville de Laval

 

more recent publications: 

 

Ordóñez et al. (2024)  <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2024.118445> Having
a tree in front of one’s home is associated with greater subjective
wellbeing in adult residents in Melbourne, Australia, and Toronto, Canada.
Environmmental Research [OPEN Access] 

Conway et al. (2024)  <https://doi.org/10.1080/26395916.2024.2355272>
Comparison of Canadian urban forest perceptions indicates variations in
beliefs and trust across geographic settings. Ecosystems and People [OPEN
Access]

Ordóñez et al. (2023)  <https://doi.org/10.1038/s42949-023-00119-8>
Satisfaction with urban trees associates with tree canopy cover and tree
visibility around the home. npj Urban Sustainability [OPEN Access]

 

I acknowledge this land operates as the traditional land of the Anishinabe
of the Algonquin Nation. This is still the home to many First Nations, Inuit
and Métis people and I am grateful to have the opportunity to work on this
land. 

 

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://list.web.net/pipermail/canufnet/attachments/20240730/5e8990c9/attachment-0001.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 937202 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://list.web.net/pipermail/canufnet/attachments/20240730/5e8990c9/attachment-0001.png>