Research in Context
Region and Climate matching
A series of resources has been developed that matches different geographical areas in terms of climate and environmental zones. In conjunction with well established tree selection tools and databases, they can easily provide suggestions for the selection of tree species. Either for urban spaces or for forests.
​
1. Climate Matching Tool (CMAT), Forest Research UK
Created by Forest Research, which is the main Institute for forestry and trees in the UK. It utilizes the UK Climate Projections data 2018 (UKCP18 n.d.) and it has been developed collaboratively with country and international partners, including those in the B4EST project, such as France’s National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE). This project has been elaborated for surveying the forest’s resilience and provides guidance in the management or planning of new tree plantings.
However, it is also addressed to landscape designers and decision makers to make more understandable the future pressures that will be brought about by climate change.
It covers a broad geographic area: Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. It provides a visualization of a selected site on the map to answer the following questions:
• what the projected climate would be like in the future.
• which areas will have my current climate in the future?
The following climate parameters were considered: precipitation, temperature, and diurnal range. (Broadmeadow et al, 2005; Climate Matching Tool n.d.)
In conjunction with The Ecological Site Classification tree selection tool, forest managers are guided to select tree species for future climate scenarios. It gives answers for the main forest tree species in the UK. Soil parameters are also taken into account. (Forest Research n.d.).
Variables: precipitation, temperature, and diurnal range.
​​​​Approximately the geographic area extending across Europe, North Africa and Middle East that is covered by the Climate Matching Tool. Image credit: Created on a MapChart map template (mapchart.net ).
​​Case study 1.
With the selection of a location at the NTUA Campus in Athens, the Tool produces 5 locations that currently have a similar climate to that expected in 2031-2040 at the NTUA Campus.
​​​​​​​​​​Matching locations with the use of CMT tool. For the future climate conditions in 2031-2040 at the NTUA Campus (Athens), locations at the islands of Naxos and Rhodes have presently similar climate conditions. Image credit: Created on a MapChart map template (mapchart.net ).
Case study 2. With the selection of a location at the city of Agios Nikolaos in Crete, the Tool produces 3 locations (best match) that currently have a similar climate to that expected in 2031-2040 at Agios Nikolaos.
Matching locations with the use of CMT tool. For the future climate conditions in 2031-2040 at the city of Agios Nikolaos (Crete), locations at the West coast of Euboea and the Mersin Province in Turkey have presently similar climate conditions. Image credit: Created on a MapChart map template (mapchart.net ).
2. ​​​​​​​RESOURCES DEVELOPED FOR THE CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL FORESTRY RESEARCH AND WORLD AGROFORESTRY (CIFOR-ICRAF).
These tools have been produced from the research work led by Roeland Kindt for CIFOR-ICRAF. Their aim is maximizing native tree selection species for ecological restoration and conservation and agroforestry.
On a parallel path of work as research for the Kew Gardens by Kevin Martin, they are based on:
-
Utilizing many sources for species occurrence and environmental ranges
-
Extensive data analysis
-
Modeling
More of these tools, databases or atlases have been listed on the "Species Distribution Modelling" page of the website. A selection though is presented here for the purpose of case studies in urban environments.
​Tree Globally Observed Environmental Ranges (TreeGOER)
TreeGOER provides information for 48,129 tree species of their environmental ranges for 38 bioclimatic, eight soil and three topographic variables. Bioclimatic ranges include those for mean annual temperature, mean annual rainfall and the Climatic Moisture Index, known to be useful in mapping suitable habitat for tree species.​​​
​Variables:
- BIOCLIMATIC Mean Annual Temperature (MAT).
- SOIL
- TOPOGRAPHIC (Kindt 2024)
​​
Global Useful Native Trees (GlobUNT)
It includes 14,014 useful tree species, representing roughly a quarter of the known tree species (as listed by GlobalTreeSearch) and a third of the plant species from WCUPS. (GlobUNT n.d., GlobUNT 2025)
​
​Globally Observed Environmental Data for Cities (CitiesGOER)
CitiesGOER provides environmental data for 52,602 cities and 48 environmental variables, including 38 bioclimatic variables, 8 soil variables and 2 topographic variables. (Kindt 2023).​​
​The webpage of "Global Landscape Forum" has recently published a module that provides guidance on the combined use of these tools (GlobUNT 2025). ​​The following case study is about the consecutive steps in combining the above available tools.
Case study 3. With the selection of the local climate conditions at the city of Chania, Crete (Chaniá, Kriti) a list of suitable tree species for the future will be produced. Although the outcome of the method will be recommendations for agroforestry and ecosystem, some species may also have well established landscape use.
​
Some of the available filters and options will not be applied for the example to be simplified. ​Commencing with GlobUNT, the steps are:
​
1st step - Selection of Country:
Continent = Europe
Subontinent = SE Europe
Country = Greece
Region at the subnational level = Kriti
​
2nd step - Uses:
All uses are left unmarked in the filters in order to acquire the most extensive species list which may include landscape tree species.
​​​
3rd step - Climate:
The input of the local climate conditions after consulting any of three databases: TreeGOER, TreeGOER Global Zones atlas, CitiesGOER. Using the CitiesGOER database and excel files, the values for the city of Chaniá are traced. For the parameters of CMI (Climate Moisture Index) zone and Tmo10 (Mean Temperature of the Hottest Month) zone, the value are: ​​​
CMI zone -0.5 ≤ CMI < -0.35; dry sub-humid (D)
Tmo10 zone 12; tropical (A)
​​
4th step, Bioclimatic conditions:
Selection of the nearest weather station (METEOStat) at the planting site weather station in order for the bioclimatic conditions to be set:
Weather Station Region Kriti
Weather Station Location Heraklion Airport
And the present conditions or one of the available climate scenarios is selected e.g. Climate at the weather station locations in 2050 for the scenario SSP1-2.6'Sustainability' ​
A list of 19 recommended native (Greece) species is produced for Chania, Crete and its future climate in 2050. The following table is only a part of the available columns and information derived from this method. The third column is about the number of countries where the species is considered native.
Species
Anagyris foetida
Family
Fabaceae
Countries
24
Arbutus andrachne
Ceratonia siliqua
Ericaceae
Fabaceae
16
22
Cupressus sempervirens
Euphorbia dendroides
Cupressaceae
Euphorbiaceae
8
13
Ficus carica
Myrtus communis
Moraceae
Myrtaceae
26
28
Olea europaea
Phoenix theophrasti
Oleaceae
Arecaceae
34
2
Pinus brutia
Pistacia lentiscus
Pinaceae
Anacardiaceae
9
18
Platanus orientalis
Prunus webii
Platanaceae
Rosaceae
21
9
Quercus coccifera
Quercus ithaburensis
Fagaceae
Fabaceae
24
7
NOTES: 1) Only species that are native to Greece are included in the list produced with this method 2) Ceratonia siliqua and Phoenix theophrasti are emblematic for the landscape of Crete 3) In the website's section about the tree survey for underutilized species in Athens, there are images and information on distribution of the species Arbutus andrachne, Pistacia lentiscus, Quercus coccifera and Quercus ithaburensis.
3. GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL STRATIFICATION (Metzger 2018).
Based on bioclimatic data, 15 environmental zones were identified. Bioclimatic indicators are directly correlated with the physiological functions of plants; therefore, they are an essential basis for environmental stratification. (Leathwick et al. 2003). These bioclimatic indicators were developed after the Köppen classification.
This map is available in files for high-resolution viewing using GIS software (Metzger 2012, Metzger 2018). A Russian GIS scientist, Alex Egoshin, has created an interactive map that focused on major cities and their analog counterparts with a similar climate (Vivid Maps 2017).
​
Variables: temperature seasonality, growing degree-days on 0 °C base, aridity index, potential evapotranspiration (PET).
​The Edinburgh datasets can be used for viewing with GIS. Alternatively the equivalent zones could be explored with a graphic Viewer on the basis of color. However for the following case the interactive map "Find cities with similar climate" is employed on account of its ease of use.
Case Study
For Greece, the interactive map produces results for the 7 largest cities. For Patra and Volos, the following zone classifications and matches are generated:
​​
Patra
Global environmental zone: L3. Warm temperate and xeric
Ecoregion: Aegean and Western Turkey sclerophyllous and mixed forests
Biome: Mediterranean Forests, Woodlands & Scrub
Cities with similar climates: Barcelona, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Lisbon, Puebla, Montevideo, Cordoba, Rosario, Adelaide, Vereeniging, La Plata, Zhanyi, Asmara, Constantine, Salta, Bari, San Luis, Palma, Eldoret, San Salvador de Jujuy, Cagliari, Al Khalil, Sari, Manisa, Skikda, Taranto, Castello, Klerksdorp, George, Patra, Lecce, Rio Cuarto, Ibarra, As Salt, San Nicolas, Loja, Tarragona, Potchefstroom, Setubal, Japn, Bouira, Mascara, Queenstown, Brindisi, Adigrat, Kroonstad
​
Volos
Global environmental zone: L5. Warm temperate and xeric
Ecoregion: Aegean and Western Turkey sclerophyllous and mixed forests
Biome: Mediterranean Forests, Woodlands & Scrub
Cities with similar climates: Aleppo, Izmir, Damascus, Nanchang, Ciudad Ju rez, Dahuk, Qom, Az Zarqa, El Paso, As Sulaymaniyah, Fresno, Zahedan, Douma, Mazar-e Sharif, Sanliurfa, San Juan, Khorramabad, Birjand, Batman, Gorgan, Kondoz, Adiyaman, Aydin, Balkh, Varamin, Termiz, Gonbad-e Kavus, Idlib, Marv Dasht, Semnan, Visalia, Manbij, Abilene, Laghouat, Balkanabat, Volos, Odessa, Wichita Falls​​
REFERENCES
​
PAPERS
​Broadmeadow, M.S.J., Ray, D., Samuel, C.J.A., 2005.
Climate change and the future for broadleaved tree species in Britain 78.
https://doi.org/10.1093/forestry/cpi014
​
Leathwick, J.R., Overton, J.M. & McLeod, M. (2003)
An environmental domain classification of New Zealand and its use as a tool for biodiversity management.
Conservation Biology, 17, 1612–1623.
https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2003.00469.x
​
Metzger, M.J., Bunce, R.G.H., Jongman, R.H.G., Sayre, R., Trabucco, A. and Zomer, R. (2012),
High-resolution bioclimate map of the world.
Global Ecol. Biogeography 22: 630-638.
https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.12022
​
​
​​RESEARCH INSTITUTION WEBSITES
GlobalUsefulNativeTreesGlobUNT | CIFOR-ICRAF (2025).
Global Landscapes Forum
https://campus.globallandscapesforum.org/GlobUNT
Amos Cheruiyot Langat (2025, March 24).
Databases behind GlobUNT
CIFOR-ICRAF - Global Landscapes Forum
https://campus.globallandscapesforum.org/book-page/databases-behind-globunt
​
TOOLS
Climate Matching Tool. n.d.
EU H2020 project B4EST (Grant Agreement-773383-B4EST (16-04-2018), the Forestry Commission and Forest Research. Developed by Nick Synes.
​
Forest Research n.d.
Ecological Site Classification tree selection tool. Decision Support Tools Portal v2.0.
http://www.forestdss.org.uk/geoforestdss/
​
​​Kindt, R. (2024).
TreeGOER: Tree Globally Observed Environmental Ranges (2024.07) [Data set].
https://zenodo.org/records/13132613
​
World Agroforestry | Transforming Lives and Landscapes with Trees
GlobalUsefulNativeTrees (GlobUNT)
https://www.worldagroforestry.org/output/globalusefulnativetrees
https://patspo.shinyapps.io/GlobalUsefulTrees/
​
Kindt, R. (2023).
CitiesGOER: Globally Observed Environmental Data for 52,602 Cities with a Population ≥ 5000 (v.2023.07) https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8175430
​
Metzger, Marc J. (2018).
The Global Environmental Stratification: A high-resolution bioclimate map of the world [dataset].
The University of Edinburgh.
INTERACTIVE MAPS
Vivid Maps. 2017.
"Find cities with similar climate".
PHOTO SECTION. TREES IN THE GREEK CITIES OF THE CASE STUDIES
City of Chania, Crete. A remarkable Ficus benghalensis at the Municipal Garden. Image source: A. Vardakis 2023
​City of Chania, Crete. Tree row with tamarisks at the garden of a historical cultural site (MP and Senator Manoussos Koundouros former residence). Image source: Sophia Vardaki 2025
