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Expanding Urban Shade Forests in Australia

Cities can experience an urban heat island effect, making them significantly hotter than surrounding rural areas. For example, according to research, urban areas in Adelaide can be up to 5.9°C hotter than surrounding rural areas.

There are various opportunities to reduce the heat island effect in cities. One of these is a nature-based solution designed to cool cities, make them more resilient to climate change, and enhance biodiversity: planting Urban Shade Forests.

Urban Shade Forests are densely packed, forested areas in the heart of cities that can help to provide shade from the sun, while also creating space for nature as they build back native biodiversity. This helps to make cities greener, cooler, more liveable, and sustainable.

As the effects of climate change are increasingly being felt in cities around the globe, it’s becoming more important to create resilient cities and sustainable neighbourhoods.

Through a renewed partnership with Chevron Australia and the addition of premium fuel brand Caltex Australia, Conservation Volunteers Australia (CVA) is able to continue greening cities and making them more resilient by expanding our Urban Shade Forests initiative.

What is an Urban Shade Forest?

Green spaces are disappearing from cities, being converted into office blocks, housing, schools, hospitals, and other types of infrastructure. As we lose these green spaces, we also lose shade and the natural cooling effect that plants and trees naturally provide through the process of evapotranspiration.

Urban Shade Forests are a nature-based solution that aims to bring back nature into cities, create resilience to climate change, and mitigate the Urban Heat Island Effect.

An Urban Shade Forest is an area within a city that is planted with native trees that are deliberately planted densely together to provide shade cover and mitigate the Urban Heat Island Effect.

Urban Shade Forests are planted in communities that have low shade coverage, to help these communities tackle extreme heat and to help cool neighbourhoods through green infrastructure.

These forested areas also provide habitat for urban wildlife and help to build back biodiversity in our cities. When multiple Urban Shade Forests are created within a city, these green spaces also help to provide wildlife corridors that connect often fragmented refuges for wildlife.

Through our partnership with Chevron Australia we’ve created two Urban Shade Forests, and through a renewed partnership with Chevron Australia and the addition of premium fuel brand Caltex Australia, we’re able to build another Forest in Campbelltown, South Australia.

The Importance of Creating Urban Shade Forests in Australia

This heat island effect, which can be exacerbated by climate change and heat waves, can have negative consequences for health. Vulnerable communities that have low levels of shade and high levels of concrete infrastructure and bitumen roads can retain heat for longer and put strain on energy networks for air conditioning and cooling.

Urban Shade Forests can help to reduce the impact of the heat island effect in cities and urban areas by increasing shaded areas in high-risk, vulnerable communities.

 

By planting trees that create shade cover, these Urban Shade Forests also help to increase urban biodiversity and provide much needed habitat for urban wildlife. In Australia, around half of the country’s threatened species live in urban areas , making these Urban Shade Forests important areas for wildlife to live, find food, and take shelter.

Not only do Urban Shade Forests help provide space for nature in cities, but they also provide a refuge for people who want to be connected to nature, and spend time in nature. This connection with nature also has benefits for wellbeing.

With the generous support from our funding partner Chevron Australia, we’ve already planted two Urban Shade Forests. Our first Urban Shade Forest was planted at Dandenong, Victoria  and our second was planted at Rockingham, Western Australia. Since launching our Urban Shade Forest project in 2022, CVA has planted over 20,000 native seedlings within these two regions. We’re so excited to be planting a third Urban Shade Forest in 2025 in Campbeltown, South Australia.

CVA’s Urban Shade Forests supported by Chevron Australia

Chevron Australia has been supporting CVA’s Urban Shade Forests initiative right from the start.

As the founding partner of CVA’s Urban Shade Forests initiative, Chevron Australia has helped us to create our Urban Shade Project roadmap and implementation plan, which included a literature review aimed at identifying the most at-risk communities in Australia and where to prioritise installing the first two Urban Shade Forests in Dandenong (Victoria), and Rockingham (Western Australia).

More recently, Chevron Australia has renewed and expanded their partnership with CVA, by committing to help us build another Urban Shade Forest.

Phil Harrison, Conservation Volunteers Australia CEO, said: “Flagship, multi-year partnerships, such as the one with Chevron Australia are transformational in impact and help us create changes on some of the most significant environmental challenges we face.”

How to Support CVA planting Urban Shade Forests

Our amazing volunteers have helped us plant two Urban Shade Forests already in Dandenong, VIC and Rockingham, WA. Now, we’re building a third Urban Shade Forest in Campbelltown, SA and we’re calling on everyone to get involved in helping us plant trees and other native plants.

Why not register to attend our upcoming planting events in Campbelltown, SA or Rockingham, WA?

In addition to conservation volunteering, there are many other ways to get involved in supporting the expansion of our Urban Shade Forests initiative:

🌱 We’re calling on private landowners who are interested in providing some of their land to expand Urban Shade Forests in Rockingham, WA and Campbelltown, SA to contact CVA to learn more.

🪴 Wherever you live in Australia, you can help support our efforts to build back nature by creating your own Nature Block. To get started, download the CVA App.

🐨 Make a donation to CVA and help power our work in conserving and restoring biodiversity across Australia.

The Urban Shade Forest initiative is supported by founding partner Chevron Australia, and Chevron’s premium fuel brand Caltex.