A recent Catholic University study found that Greater Santiago has an acute dearth of trees and green spaces, especially in the western part of the region.

“Santiago has approximately 6.3 million trees and we need to have about 18 or 20 million, ” said Juan Ignacio Domínguez at the UC agriculture school.

Santiago has on average 4.7 square meters of green area per inhabitant, well below the 9 meters recommended by the World Health Organization.

Vitacura is Santiago’s greenest municipality with 40 meters of parkland per person, while Cerro Navia ranks the lowest for green spaces with 0.6 meters. The mayors of Santiago blame the lack of green areas is due to the high costs of irrigation and plant maintenance.

Vitacura, Santiago’s greenest region. Photo by Garchauro (Flickr)

SOURCE: EL MERCURIO
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