Where did our trees go? In the three years leading up to 2020, Cairo lost some 911k sqm of green space as the government carried out projects to expand main roads, slashing the governorate’s trees in the process, Reuters writes. Cairo also witnessed a number of parks cleared to make room for shops and cafes, while other green spaces have been removed for no clear reason. This has left the country with 1.2 sqm of green space per capita — far below the World Health Organization’s recommended 9 sqm.

The loss of green space carries significant health implications: The loss of parks, gardens, and other green spaces can exacerbate what experts cited by Reuters call the “urban heat island effect,” in which natural land cover is replaced with dense concentrations of pavement, buildings, and other heat-absorbing and heat-retaining surfaces. Urban heat islands increase the likelihood of heat related illness, something that will only be exacerbated as heat waves become more frequent with climate change.

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