Million tree city
Edinburgh fighting climate change with planting project
WITH A SMALL gingko tree planted at Lauriston Castle, the city threw down the gauntlet of becoming a Million Tree City.
As part of Edinburgh's aim to become net zero carbon by 2030, the council has undertaken a project to plant one million trees in the next nine years, in a worldwide scheme with cities all over the world taking part.
The Edinburgh Million Tree Forum comprises The City of Edinburgh Council, the Edinburgh and Lothians Greenspace Trust, the Woodland Trust, the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Trees of Edinburgh, the Scottish Wildlife Trust, the Trust for Conservation Volunteers and the Edinburgh Living
Landscape. All partners in the project are looking at ways of planting more trees more quickly.
Before planting the tree, the Rt Hon Lord Provost, Cllr Frank Ross, said: “We may have more trees in our city than people but to get to our city's 2030 net zero target, we must plant more.
“Climate change will impact on all of us, and we all need to play our part to mitigate the effects. A key aspect of the proposed Climate Strategy is for us all to build upon our previous efforts, and Edinburgh Million Tree City Project, offers us all the opportunity to do just this.
“This is not a project for the council, it is a project for our city, our communities, and for us as citizens, with a shared ambition for Edinburgh to have at least one million trees by 2030.
“While 75% of our trees are privately managed, we have a shared responsibility to manage our trees well, and to act when they get damaged or require treatment or replacement. I'm delighted to plant this gingko today and I am keen that this young tree, symbolises, like a barometer, the growth of the project, each inch demonstrating how our stakeholders and communities are coming together to plant more trees, delivering the millionth tree or more.”
Culture and Communities Convener Cllr Donald Wilson said: “We're very proud that Edinburgh is already one of the UK's greenest cities, with more trees than people, more green space and more green flag parks than any other.”