Cities4Forests

The Cities4Forests programme provides a network, between cities in developing nations, to share lessons learned and baselines on forest restoration and protection programmes. This allows best practice to be identified and adopted across cities’ interventions and facilitates accelerated innovation. Defra’s investment in Cities4Forests will finance specific activities that will help decision makers and officials in cities, in a number of developing countries, access tools, resources and technical assistance that can support them in developing policies and interventions to protect and restore forests. The programme will also seek to deliver a ‘global mayoral declaration’ on the value of trees and forests and their role in combatting climate change. The programme will focus on: strengthening institutional capacity and capability through technical assistance to improve developing country’s city government support for and investment in trees, forests, and green infrastructure; supporting developing country’s city governments to increase investment (political, economic, and social) and implement new and/or improved programs to support the management and conservation of inner and nearby forests; supporting and encouraging developing country mayors to increase political action and support for trees and forests as a solution for combatting climate change, supporting better water management, and improving human health and well-being.