In Ljubljana, we are aware of the importance of trees for the city, the society and individuals, which is why we take care of the existing trees with various measures and we also plant many new ones every year, either as part of regular maintenance, renovation projects or new construction of roads and design of public spaces.

Our efforts are also recognised by the Arbor Day Foundation and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), which have awarded Ljubljana the title Tree City for the fifth consecutive year as part of the Tree Cities of the World program.
Ljubljana has participated in this program since the very beginning and has received this recognition five times already, for the years 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and now again for 2023. Ljubljana is thus part of an important global network that paves the way in the field of care for urban forests and urban trees. »Trees are important to people, no matter what country they come from or what language they speak. We all want to live in a city that is healthy, resilient and beautiful – trees represent a common language that makes this possible. When a city receives the title »Tree City«, it means it has committed to going one step further in identifying trees as critical infrastructure for residents,« said the Chief Executive Officer of the Arbor Day Foundation, Dan Lambe.

Commendation and acknowledgement

In the City of Ljubljana, we are proud of the renewed recognition of our activities and measures that ensure that our city continues to be greener. We extend our commendation and acknowledgment to city services, public companies and institutes, schools and kindergartens, as well as many individuals who help take care of the trees and participate in various events that raise awareness of the importance of trees in Ljubljana.

We are aware that urban trees and forests are a vital component of a healthy and sustainable city in which it is pleasant to live. Trees are a significant part of the environment, as they bring many ecological, health and social benefits. They play an important role in maintaining and improving local prosperity, as well as contributing to climate change mitigation targets. Trees produce oxygen, reduce noise, provide us with shade, filter, cool and moisten the atmosphere and thus increase the quality of life in cities.

As part of regular maintenance on public green areas, we plant 300 to 600 trees every year. Many trees are additionally planted as part of the renovation of streets, roads, parking areas, and the design of new surfaces, and so we have planted over 1,000 new trees per year over the past few years. We also care for fruit trees in city orchards and perform maintenance measures in our forests. In addition, we implement innovative approaches in caring for trees, and the recent transplant of 17 Turkish hazels from Linhartova cesta to Šmartinski park proved to be one of the successful ones, which we also reported on.

Tree City

The aim of the »Tree Cities of the World« program is to encourage active solutions to some of the world's biggest challenges, such as ensuring clean water and air, mitigating the effects of climate change and species loss.

In Ljubljana, we earned the international recognition of »Tree City« by fulfilling the five required criteria:

1. Established responsibility: we maintain the green infrastructure and care for the city trees with a professional service and a certified arborist.
2. Set rules for tree management: management of trees is set out in the Decree on maintenance and cleaning of municipal streets and public green surfaces, and we have also adopted the Protocol for performing work in tree areas and the Guidelines for planning, caring for (maintaining) and protecting trees at construction sites.
3. Established database: we have set up a tree database, enabling us to evaluate the state of trees and make long-term plans for trimming, planting and other measures.
4. Allocated resources: we have allocated resources in the budget for the implementation of the city tree management plan.
5. Celebrating/commemorating trees: starting in 2019 in Ljubljana, we organise the Tree of the Year campaign and event, within the framework of which we and our citizens announce the »best« tree of that year; this year, however, we will expand the campaign to the tree-lined street of the year, which we will choose as part of the already traditional For a More Beautiful Ljubljana campaign, which runs every year from 22 March to 22 April.