Guidelines for Urban Forests as Nature-Based Solutions (UF-NBS)
Creators: name: Davies, Clive
name: De Vreese, Rik
name: Biernacka, Magdalena
name: Wilkes-Allemann, Jerylee
name: Zivojinovic, Ivana
Publisher: name: CLEARING HOUSE project
Year: 2024

description: These guidelines on Urban Forests as Nature-Based Solutions (UF-NBS) have been written to assist individuals and organisations that have senior policy and practice responsibility for trees in various urban settings, to manage these as a resource to support cost-effective restoration of the urban and peri-urban environment, including ecological connectivity, human well-being, public health, social inclusion and nature recovery.

The guidelines bring together research and practice findings from Europe and China investigated through the Sino-European CLEARING HOUSE project. This project ran from 2019 to 2024 and received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement 821242 and the National Key R&D Programme of China under grant No. 2021YFE0193200.

Four guidelines and nine case studies are brought together in this document. Each guideline covers a key topic in the creation and management of UF-NBS. The first guideline is on planning, policy and delivery which are critical aspects of delivering urban forests at the city or regional level. Core to this is the need for appropriate strategy and planning processes that can help set the objectives and secure the resources for the long-term management of the urban forest as a nature-based resource. The second guideline is on cost-effective, restoration and rehabilitation which is focused on accessible and attractive urban forests adapted to the needs of different users and in which multifunctionality and a holistic approach emerge as key recommendations. The third guideline focuses on the importance of integrating public stakeholders and citizens in managing and planning UF-NBS. Simple tools on how stakeholders can be identified and integrated in the process are presented to help local actors proceed with this. The fourth guideline is on change management and institutional reform. Implementing management and institutional changes in the domain of social-environmental-economic policy and practice is complex and resource demanding. To effectively govern UF-NBS, several critical factors must be considered of which collaboration and partnerships stand as the foundation. The case studies presented here are exemplars of good practice and are intended to inform and inspire the reader.

It is important to appreciate that through their very existence, urban forests, meaning the combination of all woody vegetation within and close to the urban area are already acting as a nature-based solution. However, existing management practice can be suboptimal when it comes to maximising the nature-based benefits that the urban forest can provide. To overcome this, there is a thread weaved through the guidelines. That is that the planning, policy and delivery of the urban forest should take a whole ecosystem-based approach (EbA) with delivery based on the established concept of ecosystem services (ES). For some readers, this represents the continuation of an existing journey, but for others, it will represent a new way of thinking.

There is no preordained order in which to access the guidelines, but many will find it helpful to start with the guideline on planning, policy and delivery and especially the need to take a strategic approach.