Eleven nations are now members of the World Green Roof Infrastructure Network

Since its foundation in May 2008, membership of the World Green Roof Infrastructure Network (WGRIN) has grown from an initial seven countries to a total of eleven.

With the first national green roof organisation established in Germany nearly thirty years ago, world-wide interest in green infrastructure, particularly over the past ten years has lead to the creation of a number of national organisations across the globe.

Professor Manfred Koehler, President of WGRIN, (who represents Germany), said the founding member nations were: Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Mexico and the United States. WGRIN has since expanded to include the member nations of Italy, New Zealand, Spain and South Africa, with a key objective of the WGRIN to become a globally important motivator of the use of green infrastructure in cities.

In keeping with this objective, a major activity of WGRIN will be the organising of an annual congress. The first congress is the “Cities Alive” World Green Infrastructure Congress in Toronto, Canada, from October 19 to 22, 2009. This congress will be co-hosted by the City of Toronto.

The theme of the first congress is “World green infrastructure for global action against climate change” with a focus on both mitigation and adaptation strategies for cities.

In conjunction with the WGRIN congress, some of the member nations are organising a fortnight’s study tour of four cities within the United States where green roof and wall infrastructure is already gaining ground. In particular, those in the news media are being encouraged to participate in the study tour to better understand the importance of green infrastructure (and urban greenery in general) in overcoming the problems of climate change.

An Australian-New Zealand tour group is being led by Geoff Wilson, Australian representative on WGRIN and Sidonie Carpenter, President of Green Roofs Australia. For more information or to make a booking, contact Geoff via email: wilson.geoff@optusnet.com.au or phone +61 (0)7 3411 4524.

The second WGRIN congress is to be held in Mexico City, Mexico in October 2010, with a European city to host the 2011 congress. It will then be Australia’s turn, with Brisbane playing host from October 17 to 21 in 2012!