Over the last few years, urban and peri-urban forestry (UPF) has been gaining increasing attention as a valuable solution/tool to address a number of urban challenges towards the development of a more sustainable and resilient model of city.

Because of this growing interest, an increasing number of international and regional fora addressed to facilitate the dialogue on the management of trees and forests in urban areas are being organized each year. Although these events clearly represent important moments for exchanging knowledge and information among researchers, organizations, institutions, and city managers, the lack of a tool supporting more regular, efficient and global exchanges on the issue has been increasingly highlighted by the urban forestry community worldwide.

FAO has created the Trees for the Cities Dgroup to help fill this gap. As a discussion platform, this workspace aims to provide experts, organizations, researchers, practitioners and city administrators dialing with the management of trees and forests in and around urban areas, with a “place” to regularly meet, exchange, and discuss beyond regional boundaries and in between face-to-face meetings.

The objective of this discussion group is to promote and foster the integration of UPF in the governance of cities and to raise awareness of the wide range of benefits that trees and forests can provide to urban communities. More specifically, this workspace is addressed to:

• facilitate the sharing of up-to-date information, experiences, researches and knowledge on UPF

• promote the dialogue and exchange on topics related to UPF

• foster the creation of global and regional alliances and partnerships for a more effective implementation of UPF at different levels

Anybody interested in joining this DGroup and contributing to the discussion, is invited to contact the coordinators at: michela.conigliaro@fao.org and simone.borelli@fao.org