Planting of trees and shrubs in various urban gardens and local councils in Malta

Description: Planting of trees and shrubs in various urban gardens and local councils in Malta and Gozo

Country: Malta

City: Various locations

start: 2020

Timeframe: Planting takes place year each year over a period of 2 - 3 months

Phase: Ongoing

Nature-based solutions (NBS) : Yes

Initiator: Ambjent Malta

Latitude: 35.8884

Longitude: 14.4488

Co-benefits

Improved air quality

Yes, tree and woodland cover was associated with air quality improvement ecosystem services (Balzan et al., 2018).

Reduced drought risk, cooling effect, urban heat island mitigation

Yes, trees and plants provide shade and reduce the urban heat island effect.

Sustainable urbanisation

Yes, Urban green spaces (UGS) provide multiple benefits, and public parks in particular have a key role in supporting ecological and social sustainability in cities, contributing to human-nature interactions (Vierikko et al; 2020).

Increased access to green infrastructure

Yes, provision of a pleasant green space for enjoyment.

Provision of health benefits

Yes, the importance of trees in urban areas has been associated with the provision of valuable environmental services to combat challenges such as pollution, urban heat, and flooding, as well as to improve social cohesion, human health, and well‐being (Cavender and Donnelly, 2019). Urban Green interventions has an important role to play in creating a culture of health and wellbeing (Hunter at al; 2019)

Original problems

Low air quality

Yes, urban trees help to improve air quality by facilitating widespread deposition of various gases and particles through the provision of large surface areas as well as through their influence on microclimate and air turbulence (Grote et al; 2016).

Drought and heat risk

Yes, the Mediterranean Basin is undergoing a warming trend with longer and warmer summers, an increase in the frequency and the severity of heat waves, changes in precipitation patterns and a reduction in rainfall amounts (Linares et al; 2020).

Low availability of green infrastructure

Yes, densely populated urban areas were characterised by a lower availability of green infrastructure (Balzan et al. 2018).

SDGs

Sustainable cities and communities (SDG11)

Yes, increasing urban greenery are intended to make the city more sustainable through the provision of cleaner air and reduction of ambient temperatures and soil erosion.

Reference: Balzan, M. V., Caruana, J., Zammit, A. 2018. Assessing the capacity and flow of ecosystem services in multifunctional landscapes : Evidence of a rural-urban gradient in a Mediterranean small island state. Land Use Policy, 75, 711–725. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2017.08.025.

Cavender, N., Donnelly, G. 2019. ntersecting urban forestry and botanical gardens to address big challenges for healthier trees, people, and cities. Plants, People, Planet, 2019;1:315–322. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.38.

Grote, R., Samson, R., Alonso, R., Amorim, J.H., Cariñanos,P., Churkina, G., Fares,S., Le Thiec, D., Niinemets, Ü., Mikkelsen, T.N., Paoletti,E., Tiwary, A., Calfapietra, C. 2016. Functional traits of urban trees: air pollution mitigation potential. Front Ecol Environ 2016, 1-8pp. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.1426.

Hunter, R.F., Cleland, C., Cleary, A., Droomers, M., Wheeler, B.W., Sinnett, D., Nieuwenhuijsen, M.J., Braubach, M. (2019). Environmental, health, wellbeing, social and equity effects of urban green space interventions: A meta-narrative evidence synthesis, Environment International (2019) 130, 104923. Retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2019.104923.

Linares, C., Díaz, J., Negev, M., Martínez, G.S., Debono, R. and Paz, S. 2020. Impacts of climate change on the public health of the Mediterranean Basin population - current situation, projections, preparedness and adaptation. Environmental Research, 182:109107 Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2019.109107.

Swiss Re institute (2020) Available at: https://www.swissre.com/media/news-releases/nr-20200923-biodiversity-and-ecosystems-services.html.

Vierikko, K., Gonçalves, P., Haase, D., Elands, B., Ioja, C., Jaatsi, M., Pieniniemi, M., Lindgren, J., Grilo, F., Santos, M., Niemel¨a, J., Yli-Pelkonen, V., 2020. Biocultural diversity (BCD) in European cities - interactions between motivations, experiences and environment in public parks.