Niger’s capital Niamey is one of the hottest places on Earth, experiencing deadly heat on more than 200 days per year. As well as increasing mortality and morbidity, extreme heat leads to higher energy demand for cooling buildings. It damages infrastructure, affects the operation of critical services such as hospitals and diminishes productivity.

Niamey recognises the potential of urban trees as a climate resilience measure. But while there have been several tree planting initiatives, upscaling them has been hampered by technical and financial barriers: lack of quantitative assessment of urban trees’ ability to alleviate climate extremes, knowledge about their carbon storage potential and even the basic means for implementation (planting and maintenance).