Vienna fights for its city trees: Green life despite heat and rain!

Vienna fights for its city trees: Green life despite heat and rain!

The city of Vienna is facing a major challenge: heat waves, heavy rain and other extreme weather events are affecting over 500,000 city trees. These trees are essential for the city's climate because they provide shade, cool their surroundings and improve air quality. But how does Vienna protect its green lung in times of climate change? An important part of the strategy is the intensive care of these valuable trees, as Ökonews reports.

In order to guarantee healthy growth and a high quality of life for the trees, the city plants between 4,000 and 4,500 new trees every year. In the first four years, the young plants need special attention as they require a lot of water and care. In the hot summer, 150 employees are available every day to ensure that no tree remains dry. Around 50 watering vehicles use up to 400,000 liters of water every day to provide the trees with sufficient moisture.

Efficient irrigation systems

Irrigation is carried out by over 1,000 automatic irrigation systems and around 25,000 “watering bags”, each of which stores 75 liters of water. These watering bags are placed around the tree trunk and water is also poured directly into the tree disc. These measures are particularly important to improve the habitat conditions of the trees and to arm them against increasing climatic challenges. According to Schwammstadt, every second city tree suffers from stress, not only from the consequences of climate change, but also from compacted soil, road salt and air pollution.

Trees work like natural air conditioning systems: They provide wind protection, filter fine dust and cool through evaporation. In order to maximize their cooling performance, Vienna promotes the sponge city principle. This concept enables improved storage of rainwater in the root zone and protects the trees from heat stress. Through innovative irrigation systems and sustainable tree selection, both the urban climate and the living conditions of the plants are to be optimized, as Umweltbundesamt describes.

Robust tree species for a greener future

Another part of the strategy is the selection of heat-resistant tree species. Over 25 suitable species are in use in Vienna. These were specifically selected for the changed climatic conditions. The focus is on planting robust trees that can not only survive but also thrive. Thanks to dedicated care, the failure rate for young trees is only 0.5 percent, which shows that Vienna is on the right track to keep its city trees healthy and alive.

This shows that the care of city trees is not only a question of aesthetics, but also of quality of life for the Viennese population. Healthy trees not only help improve the microclimate, but also provide an important habitat for animals and plants. The clear goal is to allow Vienna's green lung to continue to flourish in times of change. Following the motto: “Healthy trees, healthy city”, Vienna remains committed and creative in its efforts to make the city green and livable.