Save lives by planting more trees in the city

Increasing the presence of trees would reduce heat-related deaths in urban heat islands.

For city dwellers, the summer of 2022 was a painful reminder, if need be, of the danger that excessive heat poses to health. Ranked 2^e summer the hottest since 1900, it recorded 10,420 excess deaths in metropolitan France, indicated in November Public Health France. And episodes of heat waves are not the only cause: studies show that even more moderate heat can have an impact on mortality. However, cities are territories that are particularly sensitive to heat, because they form urban heat islands (ICU) where temperatures can rise several degrees above what is recorded in neighboring rural areas.

In question: the convergence in the urban environment of several factors (poor vegetation, strong artificialization and sealing of the soil by buildings and roads) favorable to the accumulation of solar energy during the day and to less cooling during the day.

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