Portal de Murcia
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José Ballesta presents the Foresta Urbana 2030 Strategy of the City of Murcia, the road map that will mark the environmental and landscape urban planning over the next decade, within the framework of the I Jornada del Árbol.
Trees in urban environments mitigate the effects of climate change and reduce CO2, provide shade, lower temperature, favor biodiversity, improve health and beautify the landscape.
The Mayor of Murcia, José Ballesta, together with the Councilor for Urban Development and Modernization José Guillén, today opened the 1st Day of the Tree of Murcia, which was attended by the largest specialists in Spain, public officials and technicians of the arboriculture sector.
During his speech, José Ballesta presented the Foresta Urbana 2030 Strategy of the City of Murcia, the road map that will mark the environmental and landscape urban planning over the next decade, and that will double the number of existing trees in the whole of the municipality, reaching 200,000 copies.
"Successful cities in the future will be those that achieve an intelligent balance in the different components of the following urban trilogy: economic competitiveness, social cohesion and environmental sustainability," said the mayor, who added that "Murcia currently has a fence of 4 million m2 of green areas and 116,000 trees.
With the Urban Forest Strategy, for the 2030 horizon we set ourselves the challenge of over 200,000 copies. "
These 100,000 new copies will be distributed through different strategic projects:
· Murcia River II: will host 50% of the new plantations, 50,000 trees that will extend along 27 km of the riverbed and 14 districts, in the new large metropolitan parks, zones of stay and meanders.
· Parks and Gardens: will receive 20% of the plantations.
· Reforestation in areas of forest and orchard: 10%.
· Greenways: 10%.
· Alignments in districts: 10% (these are the trees at street level that are planted in urban streets and avenues).
The plantations of the Urban Forest Strategy 2030 respond to five strategic lines:
1) Mitigation of the effects of climate change and reduce the emission of CO2 into the atmosphere.
A tree absorbs up to 150kg of CO2 per year, are excellent filters for urban pollutants and small particles, and regulate the flow of water and improve its quality.
2) Creation of shade and improvement of temperature.
The strategic placement of trees in urban areas can lower the temperature between 2 and 8 degrees.
The trees around the buildings reduce the air conditioning needs by 30% and save between 20 and 50% heating.
3) Promote greater urban biodiversity of species in the municipality.
The trees provide habitat, food and protection to plants and animals, produce edible fruits by local fauna and birds, as well as interesting flowers for bees and other pollinators.
4) Improvement of health.
Not only for its filtering effects of polluting particles and fight against climate change, since it is proven that spending time near trees reduces blood pressure and stress, and improves physical and mental health.
5) Landscaping and embellishment of the city and districts.
The parks and gardens and urban landscaping make 'City Brand', constitute a tourist attraction and can increase the value of the buildings of the environment up to 20%.
Trees adapted to the characteristics of Murcia
Based on these criteria, the new plantations will prioritize native varieties, which adapt to the climate, water scarcity and thermal characteristics of the municipality (in Murcia we have the months of spring and autumn with a very high temperature difference between day and the night, of up to 14 degrees), with special preference to the deciduous ones (they improve global warming and nourish and fertilize the soil) and a clear bet for the trees of alignment, the specimens at street level that provide shade both to pedestrians as to buildings in urban environments.
Tree Master Plan: diagnosis, evolution and monitoring of existing trees
In addition to the new plantations, the Foresta Urbana 2030 Strategy includes the first Master Plan for Arbolado de Murcia, by which the City Council has hired the drafting of a document by external experts, which will involve an evaluation and audit of the different trees of the municipality , with a total of 500 diagnostic and instrumental tests that will allow to detect the current situation of the trees and, especially, of the singular specimens.
The City Council already carries out an exhaustive examination of more than 5,600 trees that are revised, at least every six months, because they exceed 12 meters in height, as well as another 900 trees classified as unique by their characteristics and age.
The Master Plan for Arbolado de Murcia will make it possible to broaden and complete the diagnosis of the situation of the municipal arboreal heritage, providing an x-ray of the current status of the specimens and an external audit report.
To this end, the latest generation technologies will be used, such as laser, ultrasound, georadar and tomograph revision, among other tools, detecting the situation of each specimen.
Source: Ayuntamiento de Murcia
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