RHODE ISLAND URBANFORESTS FOR CLIMATE ANDHEALTH INITIATIVE

Urban Forestry, Pilot Projects, Career Pathways, Health Equity

A U G U S T 2 0 1 9

American ForestsPriority Issues

American Forests, the nation’s oldest conservation

organization, has selected Rhode Island to pilot a cutting-

edge interactive urban forestry tool that promotes health

equity and provides pathways for the state to reach its

climate goal.

People & Climate

RHODE ISLAND

Focus on

Health Equity Zones

WHY CLIMATE &PUBLIC HEALTH?

Contacts Molly Henry Climate & Health FellowAmerican Forests (401) 222-2445 ext 2054 mhenry@americanforests.org Ian Leahy Vice President of Urban ForestryAmerican Forests (202) 370-4524 ileahy@americanforests.org Tee Jay Boudreau Deputy Chief Division of Forest Environment RI Department Environmental Management (401) 222-2445 ext. 2059 teejay.boudreau@dem.ri.gov

Cooling, Emissions, Mortality

Climate: Urban forests, the trees in and aroundcities, suburbs and towns, have long beenoverlooked as a solution in reducing globalwarming, but they contribute significantly toreducing the rate of global temperature increases.Urban forests in the U.S. currently sequester 1.8percent of U.S. emissions and reduce residentialenergy use for heating and cooling by 7.2 percent.One major goal of this project is to define howmuch more U.S. urban forests can contribute toreducing global temperatures and create tools toachieve that goal in Rhode Island and thennationwide. Public Health: The top public health threat fromextreme weather is heat, which kills more peopleannually than all other weather events combined.Increasing temperatures will only exacerbate thatand other health risks. Research from the RollinsSchool of Public Health projects a ten-fold increasein heat related deaths in eastern U.S. cities by2050. Urban tree canopy is uniquely positioned toreduce urban heat islands, heat stress andmortality in cities. This project will strategicallytarget tree canopy growth in the most health-vulnerable populations like low-income familieswith no air conditioning, and neighborhoods withhigh concentrations of youth and elderly.

OUR PARTNERS:

Doris Duke Charitable Foundation; American Forests;

Rhode Island Department of Environmental

Management; Rhode Island Department of Health;

Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank; U.S. Forest Service,

including the Northern Institute of Applied Climate

Science; City Forest Credits; Civic Courage

The ToolkitWe are creating a suite of tools that

Rhode Island municipalities can use to

help their urban forestry programs reach

their potential for climate mitigation,

public health and environmental justice.

- A Statewide Climate Goal: We will establish astatewide carbon sequestration and energy usereduction goal based on county-level nationalresearch being conducted with the U.S. ForestService’s David Nowak as part of this initiative. - Tree Equity Score: This score will becalculated for every municipality in RhodeIsland to help local partners determine howwell their tree canopy is currently serving theirmost vulnerable populations and maximizingits climate mitigation potential. - Climate & Health Forestry Action Guide:Step-by-step guidance to help any city,nonprofit, or collaboration set goals and workflows while determining where there are gapsin urban forestry management for climatemitigation and public health.

- Planter Tool: A parcel-level, web-basedmapping tool to help policymakers and urbanforesters pinpoint locations where new treeplantings hold the most potential to maximizepublic health outcomes in neighborhoods thatare most vulnerable to climate change. - Policy: We are working to develop or supportpolicy that generate investments in urbanforests at the state and federal level. This willbe achieved through a focused effort tostrengthen and expand Rhode Island’sadvocacy network. - City Forest Credits: This new voluntarycarbon-plus credit market is specifically gearedto trees in cities and towns. This initiative isincreasing its operations capacity and workingin both Rhode Island and nationwide to expandits market. Opportunities will be explored toactivate this private finance mechanism inplanting and preservation projects throughoutRhode Island. - Learning Labs and Workshops: We will host aseries of interactive workshops that willprovide opportunity for input, training andsupport. 

Satellite-produced maps of Greater Providencedemonstrate that urbanized areas suffer mostfrom the heat island effect. Development patternsand vegetation cover directly influence heat. Credit: NASA/Earth Observatory.

American Forests Change Model.