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The City Council intends to double the trees in the whole municipality and reach 200,000 copies in 2030. Trees in urban environments mitigate the effects of climate change and reduce CO2, provide shade, lower temperature, favor biodiversity, improve the health and embellish the landscape.

The deputy mayor of Urban Development and Modernization of the Administration, José Guillén, has indicated that "80% of the trees of Foresta Strategy 2030 will be planted in districts.

The City of Murcia intends to double the trees in public areas throughout the municipality and reach 200,000 copies by 2030. "

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).

José Guillén explained that "to 10% of trees in alignments in hamlets, we must add 50% of the new trees of Murcia River II that will be planted completely in districts, 10% of the reforestations in areas of forest and orchard and the 10% of greenways that are also districts and part of 20% of plantations in parks and gardens "

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.

Guillén, finally, congratulated the municipal technicians "who are those who know our city perfectly and who have analyzed all the needs point by point".

Source: Ayuntamiento de Murcia