The City of Burlington has been recognized by the Arbour Day Foundation and the Food and Agriculture Foundation of the United Nations as a Tree City of the World. Burlington joins a list of only 138 cities worldwide, 21 of them in Canada, in earning the recognition.
To earn Tree Cities of the World recognition, a city must demonstrate its commitment by meeting five program standards: establish responsibility for the care of trees, set rules to govern the management of forests and trees, maintain an updated inventory or assessment of local tree resources, allocate resources for a tree management plan, and hold an annual celebration of trees to educate residents.
In recognition of this designation, a Tree City of the World flag has been raised at City Hall.
About the Tree City of the World Program
The Arbor Day Foundation is the world’s largest nonprofit membership organization dedicated to planting trees. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Both organizations came together in 2019 to found Tree Cities of the World. The program is a global effort to recognize cities and towns committed to ensuring that their urban forests and trees are properly maintained, sustainably managed, and duly celebrated.
Enrico Scalera, Director of Roads, Parks and Forestry was pleased with the award, ““We are thrilled to be recognised with this designation. We’re also nearing completion of our Urban Forestry Master Plan and our Woodlot Management Strategy which will guide our future urban forestry decisions on how to best manage and enhance our forest assets. The Forestry team is working diligently on a daily basis to protect our trees from unnecessary removal, pests and diseases as well as striving to plant more trees.”
For more information on Forestry in Burlington, visit burlington.ca/forestry.
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