Urban forest governance: Future—the 100,000 trees project in the porto metropolitan area

Abstract

The Porto Metropolitan Area is a region in northern Portugal with approximately 2000 km2. Almost 16 % of the Portuguese population lives in the area, which is structured around the municipality of Porto with 16 other municipalities included. The region is a jigsaw puzzle of urban, agricultural, and forest areas. The Porto Metropolitan Area Environmental Strategic Plan, a broad participatory regional planning process conducted from 2003 to 2008, concluded that major challenges ahead included the improvement of the green infrastructure (forest, riverside areas, and natural corridors), the need for education and training for sustainability, as well as more and better interinstitutional coordination. In order to tackle these vital regional issues several institutions, partners within the framework of the Porto Metropolitan Area Regional Centre of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development, decided to collaborate in order to design and implement a flagship project. The FUTURE—the 100,000 trees project in the Porto Metropolitan Area is the outcome of this process. Its purpose is to create, restore and care for native urban forests in the region with active involvement of the main stakeholders (landowners, citizens, local governments, central government, companies, non-governmental organisations, and schools, among others). Our aim is to present the case study of this project describing its context, scale, institutional framework, actors and partnerships, resources and processes, highlighting its governance model.