Conclusion
It also helps those communities access the ravines by, for instance, subsidizing private events and providing translation at guided nature walks. The city also offers volunteering opportunities and incentives for tree-planting on private land.
Under a reconciliation plan, the city is also drawing on the land stewardship skills of Indigenous Peoples. For instance, authorities are learning from Indigenous community members as they carry out traditional controlled burns to restore savanna ecosystems in the city’s High Park, say municipal officials.
Other role model cities in the Generation Restoration project include Montreal, Canada’s second-largest city, and Glasgow, the third-biggest city in the United Kingdom.
Montreal is carrying out 2020–2030 plans that focus on climate, nature and sports. These plans foster restoration activities, including planting trees, re-greening riverbanks, turning municipal lawns into meadows full of wildlife, and expanding urban agriculture to grow more food in the city.
Montreal aims to plant 500,000 trees under a 2020–2030 climate plan that engages citizens and community groups in many forms of restoration, including drives to re-green riverbanks, convert municipal lawns into biodiversity-rich urban meadows, and expand urban agriculture.
Federal Investment Contributes to the Planting of 500,000 Trees in Montr…
Natural Resources Canada
At an event in Montreal today, the Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, on …
In Glasgow, an emphasis on community engagement, including through schools, aims to foster greater awareness and pride in the city’s green spaces, including through tree-planting and maintenance drives, and more opportunities for outdoor activities.
Global collaboration
To share experiences and collaborate on solutions, Toronto representative are holding workshops with counterparts around the world, including those from Douala in Cameroon, Quezon City in the Philippines and Sirajganj in Bangladesh. Strickland said Toronto is gaining from the exchange, citing a discussion with an official from the Brazilian city of Manaus on how to keep newly planted street trees watered.
“The pilot cities are doing some very innovative thinking,” she said. “It’s definitely not one-directional and the lessons we are all learning can help us to make nature an integral part of the sustainable cities of the future.” | – UNEP News
