We’ve decided to concentrate on council’s annual reports for this post – in particular focusing on an area that is repeatedly touted as vitally important to residents – increasing our overall tree canopy. We now have plenty of policies that are supposed to concentrate on environmental sustainability, urban forest creation, and protecting mature trees as well as reaching the target of 22% tree canopy coverage by 2040. So how well are we actually doing and can we trust the figures that council trots out?
Since the 2021/22 annual report residents have no idea as to how well the goal of increasing tree canopy is going. Why? Because every single annual report since then has consistently refused to provide the most essential data – ie how many trees have been lost and had to be replaced? If the only figure that is provided is the number of new tree plantings, then how on earth can we know whether the cited new plantings are in fact achieving the stated goal?
The list below features verbatim quotes from 2018/19 onwards. Readers will note that up until 2021/22, we were told not only how many new plantings there were, but how many trees had been lost throughout the year.
2018/19 – We planted 2,077 street trees (940 replacement and 1,137 additional). (page 13)
2019/20 – We planted 950 street trees (684 replacement and 266 additional) which was 1,050 under target due to COVID-19 restrictions (PAGE 15)
2020/21 Annual report – We planted 1,854 trees (854 replacement and 1,000 additional). (page 15)
2021/22 – 1008 – NO MENTION OF REPLACEMENTS
2022/23 – 872 trees planted NO MENTION OF REPLACEMENTS –
2023/24 – 2,241 trees planted – NO MENTION OF REPLACEMENTS
2024/25 – 1189 planted – NO MENTION OF REPLACEMENTS
What’s even more frustrating is the nonsense that the following paragraph from 2022/23 report reveals –
The planting of the 800 trees will result in an estimated tree canopy increase to 12.8 per cent canopy cover for the municipality, which is helping Council achieve the Urban Forest Strategy 2040 target of 22 per cent canopy cover ( 2022/23 ANNUAL REPORT – PAGE 80)
How is the 12.8 percent figure arrived at, when we don’t know how many trees have gone? Does this mean that the 0.8 per cent increase is the result of only effectively 400 new plantings? 300? 600? Nor does the paragraph reveal that council’s coverage is only 12% at the previous assessment. Is a purported 0.8% increase really that great? And that’s without even knowing what the true number of plantings is.
Whilst we accept that annual reports are really nothing more than public relation exercises designed to provide as much positive news as possible, the onus must still be on full disclosure and accountability. Council continues to fail in these two essential requirements.
Glen Eira Debates 
October 28, 2025 at 1:37 PM
reality is worse. The numbers are for street trees or the ones planted in parks. Nothing about how many have been lost on private property. Doubt we are anywhere near to increasing tree canopy
October 28, 2025 at 2:29 PM
The UFS is a little more nuanced than the 22% municipal canopy cover. Council targets are more specific to land it can manage and control. Car parks, roads and parks each have their own target.
It notes that the 22% target will be the collective responsibility of the community, Council, State Gov and other agencies. Obviously, Council can advocate and implement planning protection, but worth noting that 66% of Glen Eira is private land (only 4% is parks).
October 28, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Two points in response to your comments.
1. There is still no excuse for not providing data on tree replacement numbers.
2. Ten years ago, we were told that the land zoned NRZ equalled 79% of residential land in Glen Eira. How can it therefore now become 66%?
October 29, 2025 at 2:35 AM
The facts are that, even with the best intentions, there is little room to plant more trees on either public or private land, as roads and other public infrastructure keep expanding, and more land is being covered with boundary to boundary housing.
We have now exceeded the 1.5 degree centigrade tipping point we were warned about, and are entering a world of ever more unpredictable climate changes. This on top of overpopulation, environmental and economic collapse, and increasing political and social conflict. Will the oligarchs save us? Or, will we save ourselves?
October 29, 2025 at 7:35 PM
There’s still plenty of room to plant more trees across Glen Eira. As I move around the area, I continue to see large expanses of lawn, particularly in our parks and other open spaces. The inside goss is we are going backwards it tree canopy coverage, on both private and public land.
Given the escalating impacts of the climate crisis, we need to rethink how we use our public land areas. If temperatures continue to rise as projected, it’s time to start reclaiming some of the large areas currently dedicated to sporting fields. These treeless, barren spaces offer little to very limited recreation opportunities for the average park user, biodiversity, or mitigation in heat events.
My sporting contacts tell me games are already being cancelled because it too hot play, saying insurance wont cover any injuries if they do play. After all, there won’t be any sport on a dead planet. It also make a lot more sense to plant the trees as early as possible, so the canopies will as fully developed as possible in this time frame of 2040. Waiting till the last years to plant is absolute lunacy. Plant now or suffer the consequences later.