What is a Microforest?
A microforest is a small area of land that is returned to a natural state through the planting of native trees and shrubs. Microforests are planted on non-developable land and can be as small as a city residential building lot (500 square feet). A microforest is a great way to naturalize a small piece of land in urban areas and has many ecological and social benefits.
Benefits of a Microforest
Ecological value of trees
- Release oxygen through photosynthesis
- Provide moisture and help local and regional climates to cool
- Trees also store water (hydrological cycle)
- Improve soil conditions so other plants can grow well around them
- Store and cycle nutrients to keep an ecosystem healthy
- Provide habitat for small creatures and insects
- Contribute to increased biodiversity
- Capture carbon from the atmosphere to mitigate climate change
Social and economic benefits
- Trees act as noise buffering in our neighbourhoods
- Provide cooling, shade and wind-reducing effects
- Remove air pollutants so we live healthier
- Improve community and neighbourhood aesthetics
- Enhance psychological well being
- Improve flood areas and reduce effects of stormwater runoff
- They’re also great places for learning and provide educational opportunities for students young and old!
Trees and Climate Change
Trees provide benefits for both climate change mitigation and adaptation to the effects of climate change. Mitigation is the removal or prevention of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. Adaptation is the changes to behaviour, systems or features that help us to live with the effects of climate change.
- Mitigation: Depending on their age, trees can either capture or store carbon. Younger trees capture carbon from the atmosphere as they grow, while older trees store it. Thanks guys!
- Adaptation: Trees provide necessary shade, as well as surface and air temperature cooling effects, to cope with increasingly hot and dry summers brought about by climate change. These benefits are most keenly felt in dense urban areas, where more frequent and intense flooding can cause erosion and concrete can trap heat.