Target announced to make Edinburgh a ‘million tree city’

EDINBURGH’S current total of an estimated 730,000 trees is to be hopefully increased by almost 300,000, to make Scotland’s capital a so-called Million Tree City by 2030.

Says a city council announcement (here), the target is to help the city become ‘net zero’ by the end of the decade.

The announcement continues: “The Edinburgh Million Tree Forum is made up of representatives from relevant Council services, the Edinburgh and Lothians Greenspace Trust, the Woodland Trust, the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Trees of Edinburgh, the Scottish Wildlife Trust, the Trust for Conservation Volunteers and the Edinburgh Living Landscape Initiative who are all working together on an updated vision for trees in Edinburgh and find ways of planting more trees, more quickly.”

It adds: “Edinburgh already outstrips other Scottish cities by having more trees per head of population – there are currently more than 730,000 urban trees, compared to around 519,000 residents.

“The move to increase the number of trees in the city will help Edinburgh lessen the impacts of climate change by providing cooling in heatwaves, surface water management for heavy rainfall as well as some carbon storage and a home for wildlife.”

Picture credit: Place Design Scotland

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