Urban planners and city administrators face daily challenges in maintaining healthy, sustainable, livable, and resilient urban environments capable of contributing to a good quality of life for city dwellers. Urban trees and forests, both in and around cities, are crucial to respond to these challenges while providing vital benefits to our health and wellbeing, sustainable development, climate adaptation and mitigation, biodiversity, and disaster risk reduction. 

However, the ability of urban trees and forests to make these contributions is continuously threatened by numerous factors from development to pests and diseases. If not protected and maintained in a healthy state, trees can turn from assets to liabilities that can damage infrastructure and injure people.  

Strategic and technical tree protection approaches must be part of a long-term vision to ensure that urban trees and forests grow to maturity and the benefits they provide are optimized over time. Engaging the community and private owners is critical to effective tree protection efforts and ensuring the health and safety of the population.  

Careful spatial consideration and selection of tree species as well as consistent development on choices for pest treatments are crucial aspects of plant health care. These key factors can help to overcome the challenges posed by weather variability, new diseases, pests, and other stressors.  

The meeting will provide a space for more in-depth discussion and exchange among experts on the challenges and potential approaches to tree protection for resilience and well-managed urban forests, including a case study of Denver, Colorado, USA, and discussion of practical examples and recommendations that cities may use for tree protection, which may be replicated and scaled.