Trend Watch August 2023
New research: planting trees in cities could save lives New research from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health suggests planting more trees could lead to fewer deaths from increasingly high summer temperatures in cities. The researchers say increasing urban tree coverage to 30% could reduce temperatures by approximately 0.4%, which could reduce heat-related deaths by 39.5% according to the study’s modelling. Lead author, Tamara Iungman, says, “We already know that high temperatures in urban environments are associated with negative health outcomes, such as cardiorespiratory failure, hospital admission, and premature death.” Her team wants to influence policymakers to make cities greener, “more sustainable, resilient and healthy.” Co-author Mark Nieuwenhuijsen says, “Planting more trees in cities should be prioritised because it brings a huge range of health benefits beyond reducing heat-related deaths, …
