Where are all Australia's trees?

A new report from 202020Vision has analysed tree canopy cover in Australia’s most urban, dense, local government areas (LGAs), revealing the complexities and barriers in addressing increased greenery. 202020Vision is a collaborative initiative to increase green space in urban areas by 20% by 2020.

As explained by Dr Anthony Kachenko of the National Urban Forest Alliance (NUFA), the report ‘Where are all the trees?’ is the first national analysis that “has tracked and measured the number of trees in Australia’s most dense urban areas”. Trees and urban green spaces are important, he said, because they “have the unique ability to improve our environment, save lives, mitigate the risks of climate change and provide significant cost savings across our economy”.

“Extensive global research shows maintaining and increasing high-quality green space in cities has a wide range of improvements to our environment, productivity and society,” said Dr Kachenko, with benefits including “reduced pollution, improved air quality, decreased utility costs, more efficient water management, increased commercial productivity, better health and wellbeing outcomes and more cohesive community spaces”.

The report, conducted by the UTS Institute for Sustainable Futures (ISF), utilised a software program called i-Tree Canopy to analyse the amount of tree canopy cover in 139 of Australia’s most urban LGAs, which are home to 68% of our population. The highest ranking CBD councils were Hobart, Brisbane and Darwin with 59%, 49% and 28% of coverage respectively. Australia’s two largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, had only 15% and 13% canopy coverage each.

Beyond Australia’s CBD council areas, the areas that demonstrated the highest amount of tree canopy cover were Cairns (79%), Launceston (55%) and Townsville (44%). Meanwhile, the Victorian council areas of Wyndham, Brimbank and Melton all saw the least amount of tree canopy cover (3%, 6% and 6%) in Australia’s most dense council areas.

Dr Kachenko said the report is “likely to kick-start a range of conversations as to how we can continue to increase greenery in our urban areas”, especially for those councils with lower amounts of tree canopy cover. For example, it found there are opportunities for councils to turn older industrial areas into community parklands or place green rooftops on buildings.

“The reality, for a number of these councils with the least amount of tree canopy cover, is there may already be strategies in place to develop and increase it, but the report and i-Tree Canopy software can be utilised for free by anyone wishing to understand tree canopy cover more deeply,” he said.

“This report tells a story of hugely complex planning, geographical and climate-related factors that challenge councils, business and communities in this sector every day.”

The report can be viewed as a summary or in full.