Abstract
Urban forestry and greening offer a multitude of benefits to the inhabitants of towns and cities. However, the nature and magnitude of these frequently depend upon the context. Yet, at first glance, the developing world context around urban forestry debates seems to be poorly represented in the international peer-reviewed literature. This is examined in this paper, followed by a brief outline of ten key research areas for urban forestry in the developing world. A survey of the peer-reviewed literature confirms that almost 80% of articles come from the developed world context. This correlates with the greater availability of research finance and personnel from developed regions. However, there are urban forestry questions and issues that require examination in the developing world because they cannot simply be transferred from knowledge gleaned from and tested in a developed world context. Ten of these are briefly outlined as a catalyst towards greater attention to urban forestry in the developing world and their contributions to global debates and models. Key words: Developing world, forestry, greening, research needs, financial resources.
Highlights
Urban forestry relates to the establishment, promotion, maintenance and management of trees in urban and periurban landscapes (Shackleton, 2006)
Most urban forestry research and interventions relate to public spaces, the contribution of trees in private gardens to the overall environmental health and biodiversity of the suburb or town is gaining recognition (Doody et al, 2010; Goddard et al, 2010; Lubbe et al, 2010)
The results of this review unequivocally show that (i) there is a rapid growth in the publication of urban forestry research internationally, (ii) it is concentrated in the developed world, and (iii) it is correlated to relative shares of world expenditure on research generally and the number of researchers
Summary
Urban forestry relates to the establishment, promotion, maintenance and management of trees in urban and periurban landscapes (Shackleton, 2006). Zipperer et al (1997) argue for the consideration of the benefits of trees and treed areas in terms of ecological patches and to ignore the distinction between private and public space. A widely used definition states that urban forestry is “the art, science and technology of managing trees and forest resources in and around urban community ecosystems for the physiological, sociological, economic and aesthetic benefits that trees provide society” (Konijnendijk et al, 2006). This definition does not include the ecological benefits which are the subject of much research internationally (Shackleton, 2006)
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