Wednesday, July 8, 2026

4:30 PM - 6:00 PM

Room BE.0.08

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Details

The concept of living in harmony with nature, promoted throughout the GBF targets, must also encompass urban environments, where its implementation is particularly challenging. Urban environments are among the most rapidly expanding ecosystems on Earth, with 68% of the world’s population expected to live in urban areas by 2050. Urban trees are probably the most important element of urban environments for promoting biodiversity. Yet, their management often does not account for their contribution to biodiversity conservation. The criteria adopted by practitioners for planning and managing urban trees frequently diverge from the evidence-based recommendations provided by scientists. For instance, the susceptibility of urban tree species to invasive pests and pathogens is rarely considered by city planners when selecting tree species for urban green. At the same time, scientists’ insights often overlook real-world constraints. For instance, safety concerns – such as ensuring firefighter access or mitigating the risk of falling trees and branches - may result in the need of providing open areas rather than tree-dense areas, affecting ecological processes negatively. To bridge the gap between science and practice, we invite contributions from scientists and practitioners that can showcase their activities and findings related to urban tree management for biodiversity conservation. The session will highlight how research and practices on urban tree management are linked to the GBF targets, with a particular focus on how to help bridging potential discrepancies between science and practice. Furthermore, the session expects to bring together natural and social scientists to discuss how to integrate biodiversity conservation into socio-ecological urban systems.

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Speakers and Presentation Titles

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Organiser