Greening Cities in Africa:
Exploring Local Knowledge and Practices for Sustainable Urban Futures

African cities are undergoing rapid urban expansion, generating both significant opportunities and complex challenges in terms of urban resilience, human well-being, including equitable access to green spaces, and environmental health. In parallel, urban areas remain highly vulnerable to climate-related risks—including air and water pollution, extreme weather events, and biodiversity loss—as underlined in the Sixth IPCC Report (2023). Ensuring the sustainability of African cities, particularly through the lens of urban nature, is therefore of critical importance.

This webinar series provides an interactive platform for policymakers, practitioners, academics, and other urban stakeholders to engage in dialogue, share knowledge, and reflect on current practices in African urban contexts. By bridging research and practice, the series contributes to strengthening urban transformation driven by public policy, while supporting efforts towards more inclusive, resilient, and sustainable African cities.

The four webinars, organized in collaboration with Les Afriques dans le Monde research center, broaden the conventional environmental lens to explore the multiple dimensions of urban greening, highlighting its vital role in advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), SDG 13 (Climate Action), and SDG 15 (Life on Land). The series also supports the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, particularly Target 12, which calls for increasing the area and quality of urban green and blue spaces for human well-being and biodiversity.

By showcasing the diversity of actors shaping green cities, from urban planners and civil society organizations to the private sector and informal actors, the series aims to foster cross-sectoral collaboration and inspire integrated approaches to urban sustainability.

Past Webinars and Recordings

Recognizing the diversity of urban green spaces: multiple forms, ecosystems services, and institutional settings

20 November 2025
Language: French
Webinar Link (Passcode: Xv0h!6Bb)

This webinar explores the various forms, status and uses of urban green spaces. From municipal parks to university campuses, cemeteries, sidewalks, urban forests and wastelands, all these - micro and macro - territories are highly utilized by city dwellers and strongly contribute to the social and environmental dynamics of urban areas. This session highlights this variety of green territories as well as the multiple forms of institutional dialogue that shape the urban green governance. By broadening the very idea of urban greening, it deepens the understanding of forms of urban nature that are often overlooked and their integration into urban planning.

📌 Webinar’s objectives:
1. Highlight the diversity of urban green spaces in Africa and their multiple benefits.
2. Explore the practices and actors that shape greening processes in urban environments.
3. Identify policy tools and governance approaches for greener cities that are more inclusive, adaptable, and rooted in local contexts.

Speakers:
• Marie-Solange Tiebre, Director of the National Center for Floristics, Côte d’Ivoire
• Jean KONDZOU Takuete, Agrifood systems Innovation Expert, FAO Cameroon
• Jean-Louis Yengue, Professor of Geography Université de Poitiers, France
• Yassine Moustanjidi, Senior urban planning expert, Global Solutions Division, United Nations Human Settlements Programme, UN-HABITAT

Access the Description in French: Série de webinaires

Planting the City of Tomorrow: Trees as a pillar of sustainable cities

29 January 2026
Language: English
Webinar Link (Passcode: =!J6P*85)

Urban forests comprise networks of woodlands and individual trees in urban and peri-urban areas, providing products and ecosystem services that support urban populations. Tree planting historically influences urban planning, including during the colonial era, and has increasingly been integrated by African municipalities into climate adaptation and sustainability strategies. The session examined national and municipal initiatives, highlighting species selection, governance, land tenure, policy challenges and tools to maximize the benefits of urban trees.

📌 Webinar’s objectives:
1. Explore the functions of urban trees in contemporary African cities
2. Examine relationships between trees and urban dwellers and their impacts
3. Highlight the diversity of tree species in Africa and its benefits
4. Share tools, cases studies and best practices to increase urban canopy coverage

Speakers:
• Jeet Mistry, Urban Forestry Officer, Green Cities Initiative, FAO
• Jessica Thorn, Assistant Professor Global Food Security and Environmental Change, Research Fellow African Research Initiative for Scientific Excellence, Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Namibia
• Joseph Adeniran Adedeji, Professor, School of Environmental Technology, Department of Architecture, Federal University of Technology Akure (FUTA), Nigeria
• Daniel Padde, Urban Forestry Specialist, FAO
• Jérôme Duminil, Senior researcher Genetics and Vegetal biology, Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD).

Access the Description in French: Série de webinaires

Inégalités d’accès à la nature en ville: quelle nature, et pour qui? / Inequalities in Access to Urban Nature: Whose Nature and for Whom?

26 March 2026
Language: French
Webinar Link (Passcode: uHZr7&Q%)

Access to urban green spaces and the experience they offer are shaped by social, economic, and cultural factors, leading to inequalities. In addition, perceptions and uses of nature vary among populations, depending on socioeconomic status, gender, or age. Thus, these spaces can range from places of social interaction to sources of livelihood, cultural heritage, or personal expression.

This session explored these disparities and examined urban strategies that promote diverse visions and practices of nature, ensuring a balance between accessibility, inclusion, and adaptation to the needs of city dwellers.

📌 Webinar's objectives :

Explore disparities in access to urban green spaces and the issues they raise
Recognize the diversity and multifunctionality of nature spaces in cities
Share strategies and tools to improve equity in access to green spaces and their benefits

Speakers:

Colonel Bokayoko, Director of the Southern Zone at the Ivorian Office of Parks and Reserves, OIPR
Dr. Mohamed Srir, Assistant professor, Ecole Polytechnique d'Architecture et d'Urbanisme, EPAU d'Alger 
Dr Émilie Guitard, Anthropologist specializing in human–nature relations in African cities, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, CNRS 
Dr. Jean-Louis Sanka, Head of programme, International Union for Conservation of Nature, IUCN – Guinea-Bissau

African Cities in Networks: Collaborating for a greener future

16 July 2026
Language: English
Webinar Link (Passcode: AKn%p=f4)

To become greener and address the challenges of sustainable urbanization, African cities can rely on existing networks that facilitate information exchange, the sharing of best practices, access to resources, and enhanced visibility.

This webinar presented several of these networks and collectives whose mandates are linked to urban greening, including the FAO Green Cities Network, ICLEI and the Afrika Mazingira Collective.

The session explored and analysed the themes they address, the audiences they serve, and how they contribute to tackling the challenges faced by cities and their inhabitants. It also highlighted potential complementarities, existing gaps, and opportunities to address them. Concrete examples, tools, and recent publications were shared, with a particular focus on strengthening cities’ capacities.