The changing governance of urban forests

An expanding global urban forestry community, and increasing networking and knowledge exchange supported by organizations such as FAO, has resulted in greater knowledge and acceptance of good practices in urban forest design, planning and management. To date, however, only limited attention has been given to the way in which decisions on urban forests are made at the strategic level. Who is involved in such decisions, and who is left out? What are the main storylines? How is decision making organized, and who takes the lead? All these questions need attention. The paper deals with the understanding of governance processes in contemporary cities reporting specific case studies on urban forest governance issues worldwide.