GREENSPACE: Urban Greenscapes Symposium 2009, Canberra 17 February 2009

Climate change continues to be a huge global and national issue and all green-life stakeholders including nursery, landscapers, all levels of government, architects, urban planners, builders and NGO's are well positioned to take advantage of the shift in sentiment by positioning green-life and plants as part of the solution.

While everyone equates trees with healthy environmental messages as evidenced by the growing number of corporate brands that advertise tree planting as a way of offsetting the environmental footprint from use of their products, the nursery industry and all other green-life stakeholders are still struggling to get a place at the political table to have an impact on environmental policy development and planning.

The nursery & garden industry is hosting the Symposium to unveil the benefits of plants and green-life in the urban landscape and bring together all stakeholder groups to drive unity of message and create a stronger platform on which to engage government.

With international speakers such as Dr Greg McPherson project leader for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Centre for Urban Forest Research, and other well known experts, environmental scientists, academics and researchers, the Symposium will highlight the benefits of green-life by discussing how increased urban planting can provide solutions to some of the environmental and health issues we are facing today.