North Shore Times (New Zealand)
Tree cover reflects poverty
Auckland is a city divided by trees.
Auckland Council data shows across the city urban trees cover on average 18 per cent of land. But depending on the suburb that figure can fluctuate between 8 per cent and 74 per cent.
Ma¯ ngere, O¯ ta¯ huhu, O¯ tara, Papatoetoe, Manurewa and Papakura have an average of 10.5 per cent tree coverage, while central areas like Waitemata¯ , Whau, Albert-Eden, Puketa¯ papa and O¯ ra¯ kei averaged 19.3 per cent - almost double the amount of trees.
Across the harbour Upper Harbour, Kaipatiki and Devonport-Takapuna averaged 24.6 per cent tree coverage.
Earlier this month Auckland Council approved a strategic plan to plant trees and bolster coverage, favouring native species and promoting ecological corridors and urban forests on private and public land.
But University of Auckland biology senior lecturer Margaret Stanley said it would take years before new trees would provide the sparsely covered areas with mental and physical health benefits.
The disparity reflects inequity in Auckland, Stanley said.
‘‘People in those low socioeconomic areas are less likely, if they’re working two jobs, to worry about tree protection in their neighbourhood and planting trees,’’ Stanley said.
‘‘If you’ve got reductions on trees it has bad flow on effects for lives of residents in those areas for their mental and physical well being.’’
Benefits like carbon storage, canopy shading, reduced air pollution and flooding mitigation came from trees more than eight metres tall
Newly planted trees would take years to reach that height, Stanley said.
It was widely recognised that mental health improved with more trees in urban areas, she said. A study based in London shows less antidepressants were prescribed to patients who live in more leafy suburbs.
Council chief sustainability officer John Mauro said a number of factors accounted for the different tree coverage, including land ownership, land use, geography and legal protections.