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Good practice Imported

Forestami — Milan Metropolitan Area's 3-Million-Tree Urban Afforestation Programme

Italy · Milan · See the Italy profile · See the Milan profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 69% 40/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Milan's metropolitan afforestation initiative has planted 611,459 trees and shrubs since 2018-19 toward a 3-million target by 2030, backed by 70 municipalities and independent Milan cooling-effect research, though no carbon or biodiversity outcome data specific to the programme h

611,459
Trees and shrubs planted since the 2018-19 season (2018–2026)
38 hectares
New or restored green space created
70
Municipalities signed onto the master MoU
3,000,000
Target trees to be planted by 2030 (2019–2030)
Forestami — Milan Metropolitan Area's 3-Million-Tree Urban Afforestation Programme

Details

Maturity
Scaling
Promoter
Fondazione Forestami (formerly a Politecnico di Milano research initiative), Comune di Milano, Città Metropolitana di Milano, Regione Lombardia
Period
2019–2030
Region (NUTS)
ITC4
Keywords
urban forestry, afforestation, climate adaptation, public-private partnership

Context

Forestami began in 2019 as a research-led strategic plan by Politecnico di Milano (scientific direction: Maria Chiara Pastore), commissioned with Fondazione Falck and FS Sistemi Urbani, backed by a Memorandum of Understanding among the Comune di Milano, Città Metropolitana di Milano, Parco Nord Milano, Parco Agricolo Sud Milano and the Regione Lombardia. In April 2025 it became a formal non-profit, Fondazione Forestami ETS, to scale delivery regionally and nationally, with a stated target of 3 million new trees integrated into the metropolitan area by 2030.

Results

As of the programme's own 2026 count, 611,459 trees and shrubs have been planted since the 2018-19 season across 58 completed planting interventions since 2021, creating 38 hectares of new or restored green space. Seventy municipalities have signed the master MoU, 29 of them (plus Parco Nord Milano) are hosting active projects, and roughly 10,000 citizens have taken part in planting events supported by 11 social cooperatives and about 80 partner organisations — around one-fifth of the way to the 2030 target.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Medium (€50k–€500k)
Time to results
Long (> 3 years) — Launched 2019; transitioned to an accountable foundation (Fondazione Forestami ETS) in April 2025; target of 3 million trees by 2030 (currently roughly one-fifth complete).
Staffing & skills
Politecnico di Milano (scientific direction), Fondazione Forestami ETS (from April 2025), 11 social cooperatives, ~80 partner organisations, citizen volunteers (~10,000 to date)

Conditions for success

  • Sustained multi-tier MoU commitment across 70 municipalities
  • Continued academic co-design and public dashboard transparency
  • Sufficient volunteer and partner-organisation engagement to sustain the planting pace needed to reach 3 million trees by 2030

Common failure modes

  • Self-reported planting figures have no independent third-party audit
  • No programme-specific carbon or biodiversity monitoring exists yet to confirm claimed ecological benefits

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes Philanthropic / foundation funding

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

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