TreePal

Urban Forests and Climate Change

Within cities, urban forests comprise trees, shrubs and associated vegetation, soils and fauna in a variety of settings including streets, residential and park trees, woodlands and green belt vegetation. They provide many services that are essential to humans, animals and the environment.

However, a study in 2021 revealed that more than 50% of all plant species present in urban forests are not living the ideal life.

Due to climate change, the temperatures are becoming much higher than what the trees can tolerate, and there are too many extreme weather events such as heatwaves, droughts and floods. These long-term extreme events contribute to tree deterioration over time, often resulting in the death of trees.

Long-term monitoring studies and adaptive management are needed to identify and prevent climate change-driven failures and mortality, but systematic assessments of causes of tree dieback and mortality in urban environments are rare.

The Challenge

Engaging Citizen Scientists in Urban Forestry, while maintaining accuracy

The app needs to be able to record diverse, and accurate data in large quantities so trends can be complied with and scientists can use the data to further study the effects of climate change on urban forests, enabling governments to incorporate climate change resilience into urban forestry planning.

To keep the records diverse, a large number of participants are needed, ideally, a citizen scientist project — meaning the target audience would most likely be users who have little to no knowledge of trees and may not be able to record data for failure with thorough details and accuracy.

The Approach

Simplifying Urban Forestry

Knowledge and processes required to plan or provide maintenance to urban forests were researched thoroughly and broken down into steps with input prompts and instructions that were simple but detailed enough for the general public to understand and take action.

Treepal invites and assists users to observe and log, it then creates an analysis from the collected data, generating appropriate actions with clear instructions for planning or maintenance.

The data is then sent to scientists for analysis and plan for a better future today.

TreePal

Engaging Citizen Scientists in Urban Forestry, while maintaining accuracy

Simplifying Urban Forestry

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