Tree canopies play a crucial but often overlooked role in mitigating the effect of heat-exacerbated deaths and heat-stress deaths among Black and Brown New Yorkers. But a lack of trees in parts of the city, especially in heat vulnerable neighborhoods in Brooklyn, Harlem and the Bronx, is an issue that’s rapidly becoming more deadly every year due to the effects of climate change.
The Bronx has two neighborhoods with the lowest canopy coverages in the city: Mott Haven at 14% and Hunts Point has 8%, said Bronx Borough President (BP) Vanessa Gibson. She joined local environmental justice groups last week to symbolically plant a tree on the waterfront in Mott Haven, and call for more tree canopy coverage funding in the city’s 2026 budget.
“Despite being the greenest borough, the distribution of trees and greenspaces is not equitable and is disproportionately affecting our most vulnerable residents,” Gibson said.
Extreme heat accentuates the urban heat island effect, when “the city’s densely packed buildings and dark pavement absorb and radiate heat from the sun, trapping heat and making the city feel like an oven.” Due to climate change, the number of hotter days have been increasing.
According to the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) heat related mortality 2024 report, about 350 people die from heat-related deaths in the city every year. Usually, these deaths are caused indirectly by the heat aggravating an underlying illness, said the report. From 2013 to 2022, Black New Yorkers experienced heat-stress deaths at home at twice the rate of white New Yorkers. Death rates were higher in low-income neighborhoods with a lack of equitable access to resources like jobs that pay a living wage, affordable and healthy housing with air conditioning, and health care.
Older adults are also more likely to die from heat, said the report.
“Today`s presser is a call to action and attention to address these disparities, which contribute to poor air quality in the South Bronx, and extreme heat, further exacerbating preexisting health conditions that can lead to heat-related illness or heat-related mortality,” Gibson continued. “We are grateful to have advocates, colleagues in government, and private partners who care about these issues and are committed to working with us to protect the health of our residents and families.”
Research shows that more tree cover can provide shade that can significantly decrease temperatures and release cooling air into the atmosphere, said Natural Areas Conservancy Executive Director Sarah Charlop-Powers. She said that forests in the Bronx can be at least 12 degrees cooler than even nearby street trees on the hottest days of the year, which demonstrates the importance of caring for green spaces so that their cooling and other health benefits reach more people.
“Tree coverage and access to green space helps to combat the inequalities that exist in the South Bronx, where one out of four children in our community have asthma and other respiratory-related illnesses,” said Mychal Johnson, co-founder of South Bronx Unite. “We must reduce the urban heat island effect, improve air quality, and create healthier outcomes.”
Additionally, a lack of trees and other green space can lead to elevated levels of air pollution and increased sewer system overflows during heavy rain events.
“Expanding the tree canopy in the South Bronx helps tackle environmental injustice,” said Nilka Martell, president of Friends of Pelham Bay Park and founder of Loving the Bronx. “Trees will help to alleviate the heat island impact and provide plentiful benefits to the borough at large.”
