Urban Forests as Nature-Based Solutions: a Comprehensive Overview of the National Forest City Action in China

作者：Cheng Wang, Jiali Jin, Clive Davies, Wendy Y. Chen · 发表于：Current Forestry Reports · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.1007/s40725-024-00213-9 · 被引用次数：61 · 研究领域：Urban Green Space and Health、Land Use and Ecosystem Services、Urban Agriculture and Sustainability

Abstract Purpose of Review In tandem with China’s rapid urbanisation and economic growth, some negative impacts on the eco-environment and human wellbeing have arisen, such as the urban heat island effect, air pollution and lack of recreational spaces. To address the degradation of urban eco-environment and improve residents’ quality of life simultaneously, China’s central government launched the National Forest City action in 2004, which essentially promotes urban forests as nature-based solutions (UF-NBS) and contributes to achieving sustainable development goals. Whilst this key national action has been implemented for about two decades, it has received limited scholarly attention within and beyond China. This paper is the very first to summarise comprehensively the development of the action, focusing on its rationale, evaluation and management. Recent Findings By establishing urban forests as cost-effective solutions to various environmental and social issues, the action integrates novel knowledge and best practices accumulated in Europe and North America into China’s traditional ideology, pertinent to the human-nature relationship in urban landscape design, and further adapts and renovates these to the country’s unique socioeconomic context. It highlights the multi-functionality of urban forests underpinned by a set of key performance indicators covering both qualitative and quantitative aspects of the National Forest City’s planning, construction, management and review....