Summary

How much are the trees on our streets worth?

Street trees have a potentially significant role to play in climate change adaptation because they can moderate urban environments, for example by capturing particulate pollution. Forest Research’s literature review evaluated recent evidence and economic estimates of the health benefits provided by trees in towns and cities.

Key findings

• • There is a growing body of evidence on the benefits of street trees, but few papers do more than assert or research the links
  • One study of the East London Green Grid (a proposed network of interlinked, multi-purpose and high quality open spaces) estimated that the establishment of 5.5% greenspace (a quarter of this provided by trees) across a single 10 km by 10 km square could avert two deaths and two hospital admissions per year
  • No monetary values are placed on the health benefits of street trees
  • Few papers cover research on benefits such as reduction in noise, ultraviolet radiation and wind speeds in winter

Publications

Full report – Health benefits of street trees

Project summary sheet

Funding and partners

Commissioned and funded by the Forestry Commission

Status

The project was completed in 2011.

Contact

Vadim Saraev