The Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MMA) launched this Thursday (13), in Belém, the National Urban Afforestation Plan (Planau), during the 30th United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP30).
The objective is to increase the vegetation cover of cities, considered below adequate standards.
According to the MMA’s national secretary of Urban Environment and Environmental Quality, Adalberto Maluf, populations living in Brazilian cities have few trees close to their homes.
Data from Mapbiomas from 2024 indicate that the national average of afforestation in Brazilian cities is 28.2% of territories with green coverage.
“The main goal of the plan is to increase the number of Brazilian population living on streets that have at least three trees to 65%, increasing the area of afforestation and green areas in cities by 360 thousand hectares”, states the secretary.
According to Maluf, the plan was structured based on the 3+30+300 strategy, developed by researcher Cecil Konijnendijk, in 2021.
“We closely follow this international principle so that everyone has at least three trees on their street, that all neighborhoods have at least 30% green areas, this is important for the climate issue, it is important for biodiversity, and having the entire Brazilian population living within a maximum of 300 meters of a green area”, he says.
Secretary Adalberto Maluf at the launch of the National Urban Afforestation Plan, at COP30. Photo: Bruno Peres/Agência Brasil
Participatory construction
When presenting the Plan, the director of the Department of Urban Environment, Maurício Guerra, highlighted that the entire process of building public policy took place in a participatory manner. The proposal was launched in February 2025 and the text was submitted to public consultation, having received 350 contributions from regional meetings and another 45 through online consultation.
Guerra explains that the plan will act not only to create green areas, but to connect them through green corridors that will also be linked between cities.
“The tree is not just an accessory element of the city’s infrastructure. It is an essential element that carries the principle of climate resilience”, he says.
According to Adalberto Maluf, the plan is part of a national policy that includes the creation of a National Strategy for Nature-Based Solutions, focused mainly on schools and nature-based education.
“Afforestation, along with these solutions, are essential for us to improve and reconnect people with nature,” he says.
To finance and support the initiatives, the federal government has been working on a financial strategy that includes non-repayable public investments and the allocation of resources from parliamentary amendments, explains Adalberto Maluf.
“We created a bank of projects for the Resilient Green States Program. There are more than 300 projects costing 10 billion in initiatives with solutions based on nature and afforestation, which are the two areas with the highest number of registered projects”, he concludes.
