- attract rainfall
- cool cities by between 2 to 8 degrees Celsius
- make extreme weather days more bearable
- create a more pleasant microclimate
- reduce glare
- absorb greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide
- store carbon dioxide as carbon
- provide resilience.
Life in the City is better because of the parks, gardens and trees our forebears planted, tended and retained. When we understand that trees provide a more liveable environment, we make more effort to preserve existing juvenile and mature trees and we plant more trees for the future. Trees create greener, happier cities. A green city, with lots of trees, foliage, open spaces and conservation areas provides huge benefits to its residents.
'The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.'
- Chinese Proverb
Often we do not recognise the benefits trees in our urban areas provide. When we value our trees, we make more efforts to retain them in the landscape.
In the past trees were often considered only in terms of the costs to maintain them. Now, it is more appropriate to consider the many benefits of trees:
Eucalyptus trees take between 120 to 180 years to form the hollows that provide homes for so many of our native animals.
With a growing urban population, we need a more sustainable and a greener city to ensure we maintain a liveable environment.