Murcia, Spain
City population: 442801
Duration: 2008 – ongoing
Implementation status: Ongoing
Scale: Meso-scale: Regional, metropolitan and urban level
Project area: 881000 m2
Type of area: Public Greenspace Area, Other
Last updated: October 2021

It started with the “Let’s Plant for the Earth, Let’s Plant for Murcia” project, as Murcia’s committed to the United Nations Billion Trees Campaign. The city of Murcia committed itself in 2008 to plant 12 000 trees around the urban fabric through a series of action projects. The target was exceeded in 2010 with a total of 23 576 trees pledged and planted toward the campaign (Ref. 1). In 2020, after having surpassed their 12,000 planted trees goal, Murcia has the new goal of planting 100,000 trees by 2030. It is a long-term project that the municipality committed itself to make (Ref. 5, 2020a).

Overview

Nature-based solution

  • Grey infrastructure featuring greens
  • Alley or street trees and other street vegetation
  • Railroad bank and track greens
  • Parks and urban forests
  • Large urban parks or forests

Key challenges

  • Climate action for adaptation, resilience and mitigation (SDG 13)
  • Climate change mitigation
  • Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
  • Habitat and biodiversity restoration
  • Green space creation and/or management
  • Environmental quality
  • Air quality improvement
  • Regeneration, land-use and urban development
  • Promote natural styles of landscape design for urban development
  • Social justice, cohesion and equity (SDG 10)
  • Environmental and climate justice

Focus

Creation of new green areas

Project objectives

The goals of the project include: -Engage individuals, communities, businesses, industries, and organizations in a commitment to plant trees. Specifically, the first goal of Murcia's Municipality was to plant 12,000 trees (Ref. 3). Currently, the goal is to plant 10,000 trees (Ref. 5 and 6), which will be added to 10,000 trees already planted in the municipality. -Contribute to the global United Nations initiative for 1 billion trees (Ref. 2). -Promote vigorously the development of native trees and trees that adapt to local environmental conditions. (Ref. 3).

Implementation activities

In 2008, there were five different actions where 7 425 trees were planted (ref 2). In 2010, 8000 trees were planted (ref 3). In 2020, the new plan acknowledges 100,000 trees planted and wants to plant another 100,000. From this new goal, there are already 4273 trees planted (Ayuntamiento de Murcia, 2020).

Climate-focused activities

Climate change mitigation:

  • Increase green urban nature for carbon storage (wetlands, tree cover)
  • Improve carbon sequestration through selection of more adaptable species

Biodiversity conservation or restoration-focused activities

Biodiversity restoration:

  • Restore species (native, endangered, or unspecified)
  • Restore native species
  • Restore ecological connectivity

Main beneficiaries

  • Local government/Municipality
  • Citizens or community groups

Governance

Management set-up

  • Government-led

Type of initiating organisation

  • Multilateral organisation
  • Local government/municipality

Participatory approaches/ community involvement

  • Joint implementation (e.g. tree planting)

Details on the roles of the organisations involved in the project

The City Government and its Department of Environment and Urban Quality, with the Local Agency Of Energy and Climate Change (ALEM) were the initiators of this project toward the count. (Ayuntamiento de Murcia, 2009).

Project implemented in response to ...

... an EU policy or strategy? No
... a national policy or strategy? No
... a local policy or strategy? Yes (Implemented by local response to United Nations 1 billion trees initiative, Murcia Campaign: “PLANTEMOS PARA EL PLANETA, PLANTEMOS PARA MURCIA” (Ayuntamiento de Murcia, 2008) )

Financing

Total cost

Unknown

Source(s) of funding

  • Unknown

Type of funding

  • Unknown

Non-financial contribution

Type of non-financial contribution
  • Provision of goods
  • Provision of labour
  • Provision of other services
Who provided the non-financial contribution?
  • Citizens (e.g. volunteering)
  • Private sector (businesses, financial institution)

Impacts and Monitoring

Environmental impacts

  • Climate change
  • Lowered local temperature
  • Enhanced carbon sequestration
  • Environmental quality
  • Improved air quality
  • Green space and habitat
  • Increased green space area
  • Increased conservation or restoration of ecosystems
  • Reduced biodiversity loss

Economic impacts

  • Unknown

Socio-cultural impacts

  • Social justice and cohesion
  • Improved social cohesion
  • Improved access to urban green space
  • Increased involvement of locals in the management of green spaces
  • Health and wellbeing
  • Improved physical health
  • Gain in activities for recreation and exercise
  • Education
  • Increased knowledge of locals about local nature

Type of reported impacts

Expected impacts, Achieved impacts

Presence of formal monitoring system

Yes

Presence of indicators used in reporting

Yes

Presence of monitoring/ evaluation reports

Yes

Availability of a web-based monitoring tool

Yes

References

1. Ayuntamiento de Murcia. (2008). “Plantemos para el Planeta, Plantemos para Source link Murcia: Ayuntamiento de Murcia. Available at: Source link (Accessed 24/July/2020)
2. Ayuntamiento de Source link. Actuaciones del Ayuntamiento de Murcia como Ciudad Sostenible. Murcia: Ayuntamiento de Murcia. Available at: Source link (Accessed 20/July/2020)
3. Ayuntamiento de Murcia. (2010). Programa "Plantemos para el planeta. Plantemos para Murcia 2010 ". Murcia: Ayuntamiento de Murcia. Available at: Source link (Accessed 20/July/2020)
4. Chiva, Rocio. (2008). Murcia plantará más de 12.000 árboles antes de que acabe el año. Murcia: La Opinion de Murcia. Available at: Source link (Accessed 20/July/2020)
5. Ayuntamiento de Murcia (2020a). Plan Foresta 2030- Introduction. 2020, Murcia: Ayuntamiento de Murcia. Available at: Source link (Accessed 20/July/2020)
6. Ayuntamiento de Murcia (2020b). Ayuntamiento de Murcia - Trillion Tree Campaign. Murcia: Ayuntamiento de Murcia. Available at: Source link (Accessed 24/July/2020).
7. Trillion Trees (2020). The Trillion Trees Vision. Available at: Source link (Accessed 4/July/2020)
8. Ayuntamiento de Murcia, (2020c). Plan Foresta 2030. Murcia: Ayuntamiento de Murcia. Available at: Source link (Accessed 4/July/2020)
9. Ayuntamiento de Murcia (2020d). 2030 Beneficios. Murcia: Ayuntamiento de Murcia. Available at: Source link (Accessed 4/July/2020).