Alignment of municipal climate change and urban forestry policies: A Canadian perspective

While being major greenhouse gas (GHG) emitters, cities also suffer some of the most severe climate change impacts. Urban forests have gained increasing recognition as nature-based solutions to climate change via the various benefits they provide, such as carbon sequestration and temperature regulation. Many cities have developed climate change and/or urban forest policies to enhance climate resilience and support urban livability. However, it is still unclear whether these policies consider and address potential alignment between climate action and urban forest planning and management. This study explored whether and to what extent urban forest and climate change policies are mutually supportive and reinforcing, by conducting a review of climate change and urban forest policies in the largest 20 Canadian cities. Results suggest significant gaps and discrepancies between these policies, across and within study cities, indicating potential weaknesses related to stakeholder/actor engagement, policy integration, departmental collaboration and communication, and cohesive management priorities and practices. Only three (15 %) of the cities have developed climate change and urban forest policies that align to some extent. Furthermore, despite some commonalities, most cities defined their urban forests differently, highlighting locally-specific understanding and needs in addition to a lack of cohesion across Canadian municipalities concerning urban forest planning and management. Across most cities, both types of policies included general and locally-relevant information related to impacts of climate change. However, gaps and inconsistencies found between and within many municipalities’ policies may present a major barrier to effective policy implementation and mutually-reinforcing management actions. Areas for improvement are suggested for policy planning and implementation to ensure alignment between urban forest and climate change policies, which should also prove useful for municipalities outside of the study scope.