Canopy cover is the percentage of an area shaded by overhead vegetation (i.e. trees and plants).

Increasing canopy cover provides shade and cooling which increases the absorption of carbon dioxide in the environment. The percentage of canopy cover is commonly used as an indicator of the success of an urban forest.

The national benchmark in urban/suburban areas is 39% canopy cover.

The Urban Forest is made up of all the trees, shrubs, grassland and other vegetation, growing on public and private land within the city, and the soil and water that supports them.

This includes vegetation located in parks, private gardens, plazas, reserves, along main roads, local streets, in commercial areas, railways and waterways, and other green infrastructure such as balconies, walls and roofs.

For more information, refer to page 17 of the Strategy.

Research has found that urban forests provide a wide range of important benefits for the community, environment and economy that extend beyond aesthetic and recreational values into an interconnected landscape, holistically feeding into the resilience, sustainability and prosperity of cities. Some of these benefits include:

For more information, refer to pages 18 to 20 of the Strategy

Council is committed to playing an important leadership role in the greening of Launceston.

A bold target to more than double the canopy cover in the next 17 years will require Council, businesses, community groups and individual to work together to achieve it. Having a strategic approach will help to direct investment to the highest priority projects.

A review of the Street Tree Strategy in 2020 found that the strategy’s scope was insufficient to deliver a dense network of treed linkages that will realise the benefits of significant increase to urban forest canopy cover, nor did it address the creation of a broader green infrastructure network.

The City of Launceston’s Urban Greening Strategy replaces the Street Tree Strategy and shifts a focus from managing trees on an individual basis towards delivering a whole-of-forest approach, which encompasses trees and all other forms of vegetation, recognising that urban forests have economic, social and cultural benefits whilst conserving biodiversity, maintaining soil and water values and mitigating against heat impact and climate change.

A new Street Tree Master Plan is being developed to align to the goals of the Urban Greening Strategy. Click here to find out more about the Street Tree Masterplan.

The Strategy sets out a number of ways to achieve its vision, including increasing the number of street trees planted.

To reach the 40% coverage target, 18,000 new street trees will be planted by 2040. However, other forms of greening will also contribute to the urban forest including shrubs, grasslands, and other forms of vegetation such as green structures.

This strategy puts forward principles and themes that will guide the long-term planning, development and management of the City of Launceston’s Urban Greening program. It also outlines a set of targets to evaluate the success of implementation.

An action plan for urban greening will be further developed through an implementation plan and supporting documents. It is also intended to indirectly guide other aspects of council operations, such as specifications and policies relating to green infrastructure, as well as development assessment and open space management.

A significant amount of community and stakeholder engagement has been undertaken over the past twelve months.

The City of Launceston worked with the University of Tasmania to seek input from the community through workshops with key stakeholder groups to identify values, beliefs, perceptions, preferences, and concerns regarding the greening of the city.

Further consultation with the broader community occurred in June 2022 through the Tomorrow Together campaign - A Social, Inclusive and Fair City. This consultation involved a survey where participants were asked to provide feedback on improving our open spaces, identifying types of greenery and locations where they would like to see more trees planted. More than 500 people completed the survey.

These initial engagement findings were instrumental in the development of the draft strategy.