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Central Melbourne gets a tree change in readiness for hotter climate

At least 30 per cent of Melbourne's trees are susceptible to climate change. - ABC

Central Melbourne's streetscape is set for a marked change over the decades to come.

Many of Melbourne's established elm and plane trees are struggling to cope with rising temperatures and drier conditions.

So Melbourne City Council is gradually switching to species that will cope better with a hotter climate.

The council and Melbourne University today released a report advising which trees to plant to better prepare for climate change.



Dr Dave Kendal studied tree inventories from 200 countries and selected 875 species suitable for warmer temperatures and sub-tropical climates.

Lord Mayor Robert Doyle said the council commissioned the study after a startling discovery was made when scientists studied temperatures across Melbourne's greater metropolitan area.

"We found that the centre of the city is 5 degrees Celsius hotter than the outskirts," Cr Doyle said.

List of suitable trees

In a bid to cool down Melbourne's centre, 3,000 new trees have been planted in the municipality each year since 2012.

Dr Kendal's study will help Melbourne's arborists to select the most suitable trees.

"The aim is not just to cool the centre of the city, it is to diversify the urban forest," Cr Doyle said.

Species like elms or poplars are considered too vulnerable in the face of climate change.

They will make way for Australian native species that thrive in sunny, warm climates including hoop pines, Queensland brush boxes, bottlebrushes and Moreton Bay figs.

New exotic tree species will also join Melbourne's so-called urban forest, like the Algerian oak, a species resistant to warm temperatures and droughts.



More tree species producing flowers, currently scarce in Melbourne, will also be planted.

Plane trees, which feature in many of Melbourne's grand boulevards and are often blamed for triggering hayfever, will not be among the species gradually replaced.

The council said the main cause of hayfever in Melbourne was grass seed.

Colonnades of juvenile trees were recently planted in the Fitzroy Gardens and in the Shrine of Remembrance precinct.

The next big project is Southbank Boulevard and its roadway.

A car park at the Queen Victoria Market may also become a major project, with 1.5 hectares of trees to be potentially planted.

The city's urban forest strategy costs $1.5 million each year, but Cr Doyle said it was a worthwhile investment.

"We are doing a 100 years policy, our grandchildren and great grandchildren will enjoy the urban forest of Melbourne just like we have," he said.


- ABC

© ABC 2016

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