Data is the secret weapon in the battle to save Australia's urban forests

As cities expand and trees are sacrificed for housing and infrastructure, the cost of losing green spaces grows

Deforestation. It is a word that conjures up mental images of loggers cleaving their way through pristine woodlands and grim statistics measuring how many football pitches worth of Amazon jungle get cleared every minute, but it isn't something that only happens in the wild.

Trees in the city are also being chopped down, a fact that is of increasing concern to urban planners as it becomes apparent that tree canopies serve as much more than a decorative backdrop for the lives of residents.