Valencia joins the World Tree Cities club

The city of Valencia has been selected as one of the World Tree Cities, an award given by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Arbor Day Foundation.

The city meets the five objective standards necessary to receive this award: having specific policies that establish the care that must be given to the city's trees; having a census of existing specimens; having a dedicated team for forest management in the city; having a budget for tree care; and promoting social awareness of the importance of trees through various events.

The recognition of Valencia means integrating it into a global network where it will have the opportunity to connect with 137 other cities worldwide to share and adopt best practices for tree management in cities. And it is undoubtedly further support for holding the European Green Capital in 2024.

Valencia's Trees

Valencia has over 148,000 trees spread throughout the city. Among them, around 500 are classified as monumental or unique trees, standing out from the rest due to their size, shape, age, rarity, biological origin, beauty, or because they are part of myths or traditions. To discover them, there are five routes that can be easily explored. 

The most common species that can be seen in the city are the date palm, mulberry, cypress, and acacia. What surprises travelers visiting the city the most is finding orange trees scattered along many streets of Valencia, which also fill the air with the scent of jasmine with the arrival of spring. There are about 9,000 of them, and it is the tree species found in the largest number of neighborhoods. It is an ornamental orange tree (Citrus aurantium) whose fruit is not edible. Every year, over 400,000 kilos of oranges are removed, which are composted for agricultural use nearby.