Treepedia, an interactive website that measures the “green canopy” – trees and vegetation of cities around the world – has included Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town as its first African cities.

The announcement was made during the World Economic Forum on Africa in Durban on Friday.

Treepedia was developed by the MIT Senseable City Lab in collaboration with WEF’s Global Future Council on the Cities and Urbanization. It allows city dwellers to view the location and size of trees within their communities, as well as to submit input to help tag and track them.

According to a statement from WEF, by enabling comparison between other cities, it aimed to encourage advocacy among residents to grow their green canopy.

The green canopy is an important and integral part of urban life. Trees help mitigate extreme temperatures, provide a natural respite from traffic, noise and congestion, and improve the quality of life for those living in urban environments.

Treepedia’s aim is to increase people’s awareness of these benefits and encourage greater interest in maintaining and growing urban habitats.

Initially, Treepedia launched in ten global cities, including Geneva, Tel Aviv and Boston. It has since grown, and with the addition of Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban, now covers a total of 25 cities, with more cities expected to be added in the future.

“As many cities experience warming temperatures, increased storm frequency and continued air pollution, the well-being of our urban trees has never been more important,” said Carlo Ratti, director of the MIT Senseable City Lab.

“We present here an index by which to compare cities against one another, encouraging local authorities and communities to take action to protect and promote the green canopy cover.”

Alice Charles, community lead, infrastructure and urban development industry for WEF, said: “The future of cities cannot be one of unsustainable expansion; it should instead be one of tireless innovation.

“In this context, Treepedia builds on the work undertaken by the Forum’s Global Future Council on Cities and Urbanisation and, in particular, the ‘Adopt a Tree through Your Social Network’ innovation in the Top 10 Urban Innovations report, to leverage technology to enable citizens to explore the green canopy of their city.

“We hope that this endeavour will give citizens a greater appreciation of their city’s green canopy and appreciate that the green canopy can assist in responding to climate change.”