In partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and several other high-profile organizations, this forum will take place in the U.S. capital from October 16-20 of next year.

Dan Lambe, chief executive of the Arbor Day Foundation, stressed:

As climate change progresses and city populations continue to grow, our urban canopies are more important than ever.

In a space created to discuss how urban trees can create more resilient, healthy, and inclusive cities around the world, this meeting will bring together hundreds of experts.

The Arbor Day Foundation's Annual Partners in Community Forestry Conference and Alliance for Community Trees Day will also be held at the week-long event.

“We are proud to take part in this global stage as the best and brightest come together and help create a greener future for us all,” added Lambe.

Trees are more than bark, branches, and leaves. #ATreeCanBe a vacuum that cleans our air. A tree can be a home that supports biodiversity. And that’s just the beginning.

We’re on a mission to plant 500 million trees in the next 5 years. pic.twitter.com/DsxL4bZFym

— Arbor Day Foundation (@arborday) September 27, 2022

Second World Forum

This is the second edition of this initiative, which comes five years later after the first one that took place in 2018.

“At our first World Forum, we launched the Tree Cities of the World program in partnership with the Arbor Day Foundation. Today, that program has more than 130 participating cities. It’s an exciting time for urban forestry, and this event will help carry that momentum forward,” said Simone Borelli, urban forestry officer of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Other participants

“Sustainable management of our nation’s urban and community forests has long been a core part of our mission. We’re excited to provide valuable perspective at the World Forum, and connect with many other partners and representatives at such a pivotal point of change and opportunity,” noted Beattra Wilson, assistant director for urban and community forestry at the USDA Forest Service.

Other co-organizers of the forum include the Polytechnic University of Milan, the Italian Society for Forestry and Forest Ecology, the International Society of Arboriculture, the Smithsonian Institution, and the City of Washington, D.C.