Urban areas should aim for 20% tree canopy cover

Forest Research’s Urban Forest Research Group is recommending that towns and cities should set a tree cover target of at least 20% (15% for coastal towns) and aim to achieve this level of cover within 10-20 years. Achieving this would require measuring existing tree canopy cover and setting realistic targets for increasing it. This recommendation was announced as part of a paper given to the Trees, People and the Built Environment conference in April by Forest Research’s Dr Kieron Doick. The research paper can be downloaded here.