London needs fruit trees just like Delhi, says Ken

Ken Livingstone has called for an extra one million trees to be planted in London to help counter the effects of global warming.

Mr Livingstone has been inspired by his opposite number in Delhi, chief minister Sheila Dikshit, who has increased the Indian capital's tree cover by 14 times in a decade.

The Mayor's plans - which received the immediate backing of the world's pre-eminent expert on climate change - are part of a wider strategy to cut the capital's emissions by 60 per cent by 2025.

He is establishing a database of species that experts believe will survive warmer weather, and wants Londoners to plant orange, olive and fig trees in their gardens.

Mr Livingstone also called on supermarkets to shade their car parks with trees to help minimise deaths from heat exhaustion during the growing risk of "desperately hot summers" but said no public money would be provided.

There are in excess of five million trees in London and the Evening Standard has been campaigning for more trees to be planted in London.

The Mayor said: "There is no point planting a tree that is going to die from the heat in 40 years. The London plane will be fine but a lot of silver birch won't make it."

The database, drawn up with the help of the Royal Horticultural Society and other experts, contains 322 species of tree, of which 25 are native to London. The Olympic Delivery Authority proposes to plant only native UK species in the Olympic Park in Stratford.

Mr Livingstone said: "Clearly there are going to be an awful lot of people growing oranges and olives. I myself get each year a small olive crop. A lot of the trees we see around the Mediterranean are going to start appearing. Fig trees are going to be brilliant. In 10 years we will be growing oranges."

The plan was praised by Dr Rajendra Pachauri, joint winner of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore and chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He told the Standard: "Firstly, it's a step to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

"Second, I'm sure it creates visual and environmental benefits. Children and others who in cities don't get to understand the beauty of nature are reminded about it every time they walk around."