The UMDF sponsors knowledge exchange after African Forum on Urban Forests 2025
Following the 2nd African Forum on Urban Forests (AFUF), held in Bryanston, Johannesburg on 18-21 March 2025, the UMDF approved a grant of USD 30,000 to consolidate and publicize key outputs from the Forum across the continent. The Centre on African Public Spaces (CAPS), the host of the Forum, also used the UMDF grant to produce a set of high-quality knowledge products. The knowledge products included a video of the conference highlights and a magazine-style summary of each day of the 4-day conference, with photographs. Other knowledge products were:
Reports on the roundtable discussions:
- Day 1 Roundtable: Building Resilience in African Cities through Urban Forests
- Day 2 Roundtable: (draft report still in production)
- Day 3 Roundtable: Unlocking Financial Resources for Urban Forests and Green Spaces in African Cities
Graphic summaries of:
- Day 1 Roundtable: Building Resilience in African Cities through Urban Forests
- Day 3 Roundtable: Unlocking Financial Resources for Urban Forests and Green Spaces in African Cities
Finally, a virtual knowledge exchange event held on 7 May 2025 and opened by the UMDF Coordinator, explored how mapping tools and interactive notebooks can empower cities to track urban forest changes, how urban forests can benefit all communities equitably, and how partnerships between local governments, academic institutions, and the private sector can strengthen green space initiatives, among others. The virtual event attracted over 250 live participants across 33 African countries. Through social media engagement, individual emails to partner organizations and networks, and distribution through the City of Johannesburg’s internal mailing system, 664 people responded to the invitation to the virtual knowledge exchange event, demonstrating the level of interest in the dissemination of this kind of information.
Key highlights of the AFUF 2025
During the Forum, the Johannesburg Declaration 2025 emphasized collaborations and “meaningful partnerships” to expand and preserve green spaces, including urban forests, and to make them accessible to all communities. The Johannesburg Declaration recognized “the urgent need to expand the urban canopy and create climate-resilient cities and communities.” It called on urban planners, development financiers and partners, the private sector and civil society, and other community actors to collaborate to ensure that green spaces are inclusive, well-managed, multi-functional, resilient, and sustainable. The Forum operationalized the vision of the Johannesburg Declaration through practical next steps.
Also, during the Forum, the Johannesburg Declaration announced the launch of the Afrika Mazingira Collective, a community of practice focused on nature-based urban solutions, climate resilience, and biodiversity. In addition, CAPS was able to launch its digital platform to host and promote interactive exchanges, offering multilingual features and tools for stakeholder engagement.
In her remarks during the Forum, African Development Bank Urban Specialist, Ane Bingen Cuadrado Galardi highlighted some of the AfDB’s initiatives on greening urban spaces.
Commenting on the AFUF, Galardi said: “The Forum reminded us that integrating urban forests and green spaces into city planning is not only about aesthetics, it’s about climate resilience, social equity, and creating cities that support well-being and opportunity for all.”
