Tree Plantation. Image credit: Unsplash/Gaurang Alat
Toronto/CMEDIA: Toronto city has been named a Tree City of the World for the fifth consecutive year.
One of the original 59 cities alongside New York, Paris, and Milan, Toronto has been recognized for meeting five standards in urban forestry to become a Tree City of the World by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the Arbor Day Foundation.
These five standards to be achieved outlined on the city’s website include a written statement by city leaders delegating responsibility for the care of trees within the municipal boundary to a staff member, a city department, or a group of citizens (a Tree Board), an official policy governing the management of forests and trees; an updated inventory or assessment of the local tree resource for an effective long-term plan for planting, care, and removal of city trees can be established; a dedicated annual budget for the tree management plan; and to raise awareness among residents by an annual celebration of trees and acknowledging citizens and staff members who carry out the city tree programme.
Toronto is one of the only 18 cities recognized in Canada among only 200 cities around the world being recognized in 2023 as a tree city of the world.
This designation recognizes the City’s commitment to ensuring healthy sustainable urban forests, protecting local ecosystems and enhancing its resilience to climate change.
Approximately 120,000 trees are planted by the City each year while managing and maintaining the urban forest that makes up the 11.5 million trees found across the city in helping it to achieve its 40 percent tree canopy cover target by 2050.
Besides helping the City, these efforts also increase the public’s knowledge and appreciation of Toronto’s urban forest and natural environment through tours, talks and hands-on planting and stewardship events .
Learn more about planting trees in Toronto, including how residents and business owners can make a request for trees to be planted on the City’s Tree Planting webpage.
