Achieved impacts

A group of companies, coordinated by Citigroup and framed by the Sintra-Monte da Lua and Naturlink Parks, met to promote the environmental recovery of the Tapada do Mouco by rehabilitating the plant diversity in the area and removing invasive species in 2001.
The action took place when more than a hundred volunteers from the sponsoring companies triggered Tapada's recovery work” “selective cleaning of invasive alien species and afforestation with native trees and shrubs, such as oaks, ash, willows, arbutus, hazelnuts and holm oaks.” (1,2)

Hanken School of Economics has placed green walls on its campus in Helsinki. The walls are placed in libraries and group rooms where students spend long periods of time to provide better air quality (ref, 2). The NaturVention (now known as Naava) patented active green walls are claimed to filter air 100 times more effectively than regular indoor plants (ref. 3). With pure and fresh Naava air, it is claimed that people can focus on their day, while Naava takes care of their air (ref. 5).

The project focused on the creation of a rooftop community garden located near a metro station in Bilbao that aims at educating the residents of the neighborhood on how to grow vegetables, how to eat healthily but also offers free practice hours for every person that wants to have their own plot. The project was initiated by the Bilbao's Center of Innovation, a center that aims to contribute to the economic, strategic and solidarity development of the Municipality of Bilbao (Ref 1).

In 2015, Bilbao City Council launched a pilot project of municipal urban gardens in the district of Rekalde. These urban gardens aim to improve the quality of life of residents by promoting a healthy lifestyle within the neighborhood. Additionally, the municipal urban gardens support a broader initiative to create ecological connectivity across the city’s Green Belt, by linking forest parks with urban parks. (Ref 1)

The NBS constitutes the annual planting of new trees, bushes, perennials, vines and flowers across Bialystok. The initiative is designed and implemented by City Hall and aims at improving the image of the urban area, and to provide a pleasant environment for the residents and tourists [1].

Ametzola is a neighborhood of Bilbao District 7 located on the left bank of the Bilbao estuary. In 2005 the construction of a park began since the neighborhood was seen as being alienated from other quarters of Bilbao and solicited a regeneration and integration into the urban life of the city. (Ref 1)

In 2015, the municipality of Białystok restored the riverbed of the Biala river to its natural state. The project addresses the rapidly changing climate and atmospheric conditions which cause more frequent storms by improving the water management in the city. The city reconstructed the old riverbanks, built two ponds for retention, which serve as reservoirs and tanks to stop and distribute the excess water [1,2].

Tallinn implemented a community-based action plan for urban development in the Paljassaare conservation area, aimed at raising cattle on the Paljassaare peninsula, creating community-based beauty and vegetable gardens and restoring a wetland and lakeshores (ref. 3). The Paljassaare area several protected areas required active intervention in the form of care. The management of urban animals had the following objectives implemented: Paljassaare Wetland Complex Restoration; maintenance of a mosaic semi-natural habitat based on conservation values; updating protection regimes and organization; modern visitor arrangement based on protection values ​​and visitor intensiveness (ref. 2).

Extending from Kalasadam to the Noblessner quarter, the beta-promenade is a simple footpath along the seaside (from the fish market of the Fishing Harbor to the port town of Noblessner), created by removing fences, opening up gates and fortifying the shore. (ref 1) It is a project for public space creation in Tallinn Seaside by Linnalabor, where the seafront area is heightened in the public interest (Ref 2)
The beta promenade was made by filling an old, impassable landfill on a sometimes bumpy and fenced-in, but sea-view and spacious footpath, opening the old gate of the Patarei Fortress wall and marking the nearly two-kilometre shore route (ref. 1).

As part of World Tree day celebrated on March 21, 2017 the Sintra Service for Protection of the Nature and the Environment (SEPNA) as well as the Sintra Branch Segura School carried out several education workshops for school children to inform about the importance of tress for our natural environment and carried out afforestation and reforestation actions inside the green spaces of Sintra. (1)