There are tensions between the need to increase urban densification or protect and plant more trees as the government considers beefing up urban tree protection.
The removal of nationwide blanket tree protections in 2013 has seen thousands of private trees cut down.
"We're losing probably about a thousand trees a week in Auckland, at least. That's a really conservative estimate," says Mels Barton from the Tree Council.
Auckland’s tree canopy now occupies only 18 percent of the city, Christchurch’s is less at 16 percent, and only Wellington hits the international standard of 30 percent coverage.
Two years ago Mana Rakau protestors occupied rakau, or trees, for 245 days in Auckland’s Avondale.
Arborist Zane Wedding camped in one to highlight the loss of urban rakau and what that means, especially for Māori.
Wedding says the most significant impact of tree loss is in the poorest areas with higher Māori and Pasifika populations.
"Rakau, particularly pōhutukawa, would be used throughout our burial processes. Our tūpāpaku, our bodies, would be laid among these branches."
Higher foliage density also has other benefits such as keeping the suburbs cooler, providing oxygen, soaking up stormwater, and even reducing blood pressure.
Thermal heat readings show that shade provided by trees can be half the temperature of sunny pavements experienced on hot days.
Trees on private property are under threat, as new government planning guidelines mean they are increasingly removed to make way for higher-density housing.
Some new projects are attempting to integrate existing trees into their builds, such as Kāinga Ora’s Highbury Triangle where, in the middle of the construction site, two pōhutukawa trees and one resident duck have been preserved.
But this integration doesn't happen on every site.
At another Kāinga Ora build a kauri stood tall while the local area was leveled.
But it didn’t last.
Developers claim they need the flexibility to get rid of trees.
Alec Tang from Kāinga Ora says: "It becomes difficult if you don't have the control to say there are reasons why we can't use these trees in these environments. The flexibility to be able to do that is obviously really important for us."
But some say the aim is to view trees as a resource - not a liability.
Arborist David Stejskal says the design process should be re-invented, "perhaps we could turn it upside down and start with trees and say we would like to have canopy cover on the street of 20 percent. Let's plonk the trees on a street and then let's design around it."
Associate Environment Minister Phil Twyford says he recognises current protections are inadequate and he is working on a new approach as part of the Natural and Built Environments legislation.
For Wedding, upcoming legislation must "strengthen our ability to build resilience into the system. It's the decisions that are made right now that will make that so."
Watch the full video for more.
