Growing urbanization with increasing number of people, vertical forests, vertical farming, and high-rise wooden skyscrapers is making cities denser and causing decrease in space available for plants and trees. In a scenario when by 2050, 6 billion people (70% of the global population) would be living in urban areas (FAO, January 2018), we have to think innovatively to integrate natural system into urban spaces, so that trees and urban forests can make our cities greener, healthier and happier places to live by cooling air, filtering out harmful pollutants and mitigating the effects of climate change.
The International Day of Forests is held annually on 21 March to raise awareness of the importance of forests to people and their vital role in poverty eradication, environmental sustainability and food security.