PROGRAMME
Theme
The conference will feature three sub-themes on three critical areas of urban forestry:
Climate-proofing African Cities: This sub-theme prioritizes climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies, positioning urban forests as essential tools for enhancing the climate resilience of African cities.
Equitable Access, Health, and Well-being: Urban forests play a pivotal role in enhancing public health and well-being by providing accessible green spaces that encourage physical activity, promote mental health, and foster social cohesion.
Making the Business Case for Urban Forests: A thriving urban forestry sector necessitates sustainable financing and investment to unlock its full potential.
In addition to these core sub-themes, the Forum will incorporate cross-cutting themes of gender, youth, governance, and peace, recognizing their essential roles in achieving sustainable urban forestry.
Sub-themes
The conference will feature three sub-themes, each encompassing four parallel sessions. Additionally, the Forum will focus on mobilising innovative financing sources and empowering cities to access green investment opportunities for expanding urban greenery.
Climate proofing African cities:
The contributions under this sub-theme will highlight innovative strategies for climate-proofing African cities through the integration of urban forests and green spaces. The sessions will showcase the importance of such spaces in enhancing climate resilience by mitigating the impacts of extreme weather events, reducing urban heat islands, improving air quality, and managing stormwater. The discussions will also focus on integration and management of resilient infrastructure through adaptive urban planning and use of nature-based solutions as well as policy frameworks that prioritize the preservation and expansion of green spaces, and disaster risk reduction, to safeguard cities against the growing challenges of climate change, ensuring sustainable and resilient urban development across Africa.
Equitable access, health & well-being:
The focus under this sub-theme will be on leveraging urban forests and green spaces to promote public health and wellbeing in African cities, while ensuring that these benefits are equitably distributed across all communities. Urban forests and green spaces provide opportunities for air quality improvement, recreation, physical activity, stress reduction, and mental health improvement. However, the advantages of these spaces are often unequally distributed, disadvantaging vulnerable populations. This forum will explore evidence-based strategies, indigenous knowledge systems and inspiring practices to design, distribute, and manage urban forests in ways that maximize their benefits, and rectify existing imbalances. By targeting underserved areas, the discussions will also highlight how urban forestry can contribute to poverty alleviation through job creation, improved living conditions, and enhanced food security.
Making the business case:
This sub-theme will showcase the economic impact of urban forests in African cities, particularly in relation to local development. Discussions will highlight the role of urban forests in income generation and enhancing eco-tourism, thus stimulating local businesses. Moreover, urban forests are shown to elevate property values and attract real estate investment. Their economic advantages extend to climate change mitigation, reduced energy costs, and enhanced public health, contributing to cost saving and long-term economic stability. By presenting successful cases of public-private partnerships, innovative financing mechanisms and supportive policy frameworks, this sub-theme advocates for urban forests as sustainable investments for inclusive economic growth across African cities.