Arbor Day Foundation and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Recognize Windsor as a Tree City of the World
Windsor joins an international network of cities dedicated to fostering the best urban forestry practices
The City of Windsor is proud to be recognized by the international program Tree Cities of the World to highlight our dedication to growing and maintaining the city's urban forestry efforts.
The Arbor Day Foundation is the world's largest non-profit 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.
“Trees are important to people, no matter what country they are from or what language they speak,” said Dan Lambe, chief executive of the Arbor Day Foundation. “We all want to live in a city that is healthy, resilient, and beautiful – trees serve as a common language to make that possible. Being recognized in the Tree Cities of the World program means that your city is committing to go above and beyond to define trees as critical green infrastructure for your citizens.”
Planting trees in a metropolitan area comes with a myriad of benefits beyond the recognition of this program. Increasing the number of trees in a community can help reduce costs for energy, storm water management, and erosion control. In addition, the program provides a network of like-minded city leaders in urban forestry to celebrate and share best practices to cultivate greenery in the community. Tree Cities of the World aims to create more green spaces in urban areas by recognizing the cities that do it well.
“The Forestry & Natural Areas Department is very excited about this recognition,” said City Forester Yemi Adeyeye. “We see this as an encouragement to continue to deliver on tree canopy and natural area improvement programs and working with our residents and partners to celebrate trees and natural heritage sites as valuable City assets.”
Windsor has earned recognition as a Tree City in the program’s third year. To earn Tree Cities of the World recognition, Windsor demonstrated 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.
More information on the program is available at treecitiesoftheworld.org.
About the Arbor Day Foundation
Founded in 1972, the Arbor Day Foundation is the world’s largest membership non-profit organization dedicated to planting trees. With a focus in communities and forests of greatest need, the foundation — alongside its more than 1 million members, supporters and valued partners — has helped to plant nearly 500 million trees in more than 50 countries. Guided by its mission to inspire people to plant, nurture and celebrate trees, the Arbor Day Foundation is committed to unlocking the power of trees to help solve critical issues facing people and the planet. Learn more about the impact of the Arbor Day Foundation at arborday.org.