The Environmental Youth Alliance has just announced the launch of Winds of Change, a project to raise the awareness of how urban parks and green spaces can mitigate the effects of climate change, especially in cities.

The trigger event was a devastating windstorm that leveled more than 10,000 trees in Vancouver, Canada's Stanley Park in December 2005. In two hours, the 243-hectare park was stripped of over 45 hectares of trees, costing the city $9 million in restoration costs.

"Winds of Change came from what we saw as a growing climate threat to our urban parks and green space," said Karun Koernig at the United Nation's high-level event on climate change today. "We are here to raise awareness of the role that urban green space plays in adapting to the effects climate change is having on cities. Canada is one of the most urbanized countries in the world, so protecting and expanding our urban green space could be a key adaptation method for Canadian cities." ::Winds of Change

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