Editorial: Urban Forests
A critical analysis of the article "Why urban forests have a hard time taking root, even with free money. City halls have attracted less than 10% of the available funds" (https://romania.europalibera.org/a/paduri-urbane-pnrr-primarii-bani-ratati-primari-activisti-ministerul-mediului/33562764.html.)
Urban forests and invisible walls in the way of the green transition
The article recently published by EuropaLiberă Romania highlights a problematic reality: of the approximately 30 million euros allocated through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) for the creation of urban forests in Romania, city halls have attracted less than 10% of these funds, which represents, both numerically and symbolically, a low rate of mobilization of local actors and a serious barrier to nature-based solutions (Cornea, 2025).
On paper, urban forests (compact green spaces close to residential areas) are an ideal tool for mitigating climate change, improving air quality and increasing urban resilience. Unfortunately, in practice, the reasons for failure are not only related to bureaucracy or lack of funding, but also reflect the human dimension of the green transition: attitudes, values, institutional culture, civic behavior.
Values, behavior and environmental citizenship
The acceptance and implementation of measures such as urban forests depend largely on what we can call environmental citizenship that is the active involvement of citizens in environmental management, not just as passive beneficiaries. In this sense, pro-environmental values (e.g. appreciation of nature, concern for air quality, responsibility towards future generations) positively influence the community's willingness to support and even participate in projects such as nature-based solutions (NBS). In addition, pro-environmental behavior (e.g. volunteering for planting, community involvement, monitoring green spaces) can amplify the success of projects if cultivated through education and communication. However, if the local context does not provide structural support, if land is not available or funding guidelines are inappropriate (Cornea, 2025), values and intentions may remain unactivated, turning into frustration and distrust. The Romanian case, where very few municipalities have submitted projects for urban forests, indicates that, beyond funding, there is a psychological and institutional issue: mayors and local administrations did not feel that it was part of their institutional culture to prioritize green projects, or did not perceive that they would gain community support. This reflects a weak integration of the concept of environmental citizenship into urban governance.
The role of SCCA and ELCA: from education to local action
In this case, projects such as Empowering Local Climate Action (ELCA) and structures such as Support Centers for Climate Action (SCCA) can play a critical role. They can intervene precisely in the soft segment of the transition (like values, behaviors, civic-climate culture) which appear in the article as poorly developed.
SCCA, through training programs, public debate, climate citizenship laboratories and community participation, can stimulate the activation of environmental citizenship at the local level: from pupils and students, to city halls and civic organizations.
ELCA, which pursues local empowerment of climate action, can use this case as a lesson: the success of nature-based solutions does not depend only on money, but on the capacity of local actors to mobilize the community, to structure partnerships and to transform green projects into the community agenda.
Thus, urban forest projects can become social laboratories of transition: not just planted trees, but mobilized communities, aware citizens, responsive institutions and administrations that recognize the long-term value of nature in the city.
The cultural-institutional barrier and lessons for policies
The article shows some clear barriers: lack of land, inappropriate funding guidelines, lack of prepared projects. From a psychosocial perspective, these barriers can be understood as signals of a deficit of institutional culture for urban nature — that is, not just "no projects were done", but "it was not considered worth doing".
This highlights two lessons for climate mitigation strategies:
Education is not optional. Without cultivating a culture of urban nature and environmental citizenship, NBS measures risk remaining marginal.
Local partnerships matter. The success of a European or national call depends on the mobilization of local actors, the leadership of the mayor, the existing civic infrastructure.
For Romania and its cities, the low rate of accessing funds is not just a logistical problem, but one of social and institutional legitimization of green practices.
Conclusion: urban forests, but especially urban communities
Urban forests (if they are just a line in the PNRR) will not take root. They will only flourish if they are accompanied by a transformation of the city's relationship with nature: active citizens, shared values, administrations that put green on the priority agenda.
In this vein, SCCA can have a role as a catalyst for social transformation: not just implementing projects, but transforming attitudes. Because, in the end, nature-based solutions are not built only on square meters of trees, but on square meters of civic involvement, on communities that recognize themselves as part of the urban ecosystem.
References
Cornea, O. (2025, October 22). Why urban forests have a hard time taking root, even with free money. City halls have attracted less than 10% of available funds. Europa Liberă Romania. https://romania.europalibera.org/a/paduri-urbane-pnrr-primarii-bani-ratati-primari-activisti-ministerul-mediului/33562764.html
Hadjichambis, A. C., & Reis, P. (Eds.). (2020). Conceptualizing environmental citizenship for 21st century education. Springer.
Stern, P. C. (2000). Toward a coherent theory of environmentally significant behavior. Journal of Social Issues, 56(3), 407-424. https://doi.org/10.1111/0022-4537.00175