The City of Sydney will spend $377 million over the next decade to boost tree cover, including nudging residents to plant more vegetation, in a bid to counter the effects of a warming climate.
The city’s council will unveil its Greening Sydney 2030 plan on Wednesday, which details how it will raise the area’s canopy cover from 18 per cent in 2019 to 27 per cent by 2050.
About 700 trees will be added each year to parks, lanes, roads and parks to boost shade and reduce the city’s so-called heat-island effect. Heat maps already reveal stark differences in temperatures.
“We’re in the middle of a climate crisis and we are already experiencing its impacts. Dangerous heatwaves are arriving earlier, are hotter and last longer,” Lord Mayor Clover Moore said. “Our city must adapt to the changing climate and increase its resilience to the likely impacts.”
The council’s urban forest manager Karen Sweeney said the challenge would be adding trees where possible, especially on private property.
“We know where the hotspots are and where we can make the difference,” Ms Sweeney said. “The larger the green area, the more benefits you have.”
Private land, which accounts for about 60 per cent of the local government area, now has about 12 per cent canopy cover. The goal is to lift the share by about two-thirds to 20 per cent by mid-century.
Another challenge is to increase access across the city to green spaces to improve equity.
“You can’t benefit from shade 10 kilometres away,” Ms Sweeney said.
The City of Sydney’s plan dovetails with the state government’s $10 million effort to plant 1 million trees across the city by 2022. The halfway mark in that program for Greater Sydney was reached last week with the 500,000th tree planted by Planning Minister Rob Stokes in Bungarribee Park in western Sydney.
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The City of Sydney is aiming to lift the amount of tree cover
from about 18 per cent now to 27 per cent by mid-century as part
of its effort to reduce the heat-island effect and bring other
benefits to residents. Credit: Peter Rae
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The target will be met in part by planting trees in areas that have not seen them for many years, while “green roofs provide another option”, Ms Sweeney said.
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Temperatures in the shade can be hot, but those in the sun, such
as Bondi Beach in November 2015, weren't far off 60 degrees,
according to heat cameras. Credit: Nick Moir
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Sydney’s climate, where days average about 22.7 degrees across the year and 26.7 degrees in summer, is forecast to shift by 2050 to be more like the climate of Grafton. The northern NSW town now averages 25.5 degrees across the year and 29.4 degrees during summer.
Some of the areas earmarked for more trees may, though, be planted with deciduous exotic species, particularly if residents’ solar panels would probably be affected by excessive shade.
“Certainly we’ll ask for community input to get the balance right,” Ms Sweeney said.
The greening plan, to be revealed on Wednesday, will then go on public exhibition to receive feedback for five weeks, with an aim to have it approved by council in July.
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