title: Contribution of ecosystem services to air quality and climate change mitigation policies: the case of urban forests in Barcelona, Spain.
abstract: Mounting research highlights the contribution of ecosystem services provided by urban forests to quality of life in cities, yet these services are rarely explicitly considered in environmental policy targets. We quantify regulating services provided by urban forests and evaluate their contribution to comply with policy targets of air quality and climate change mitigation in the municipality of Barcelona, Spain. We apply the i-Tree Eco model to quantify in biophysical and monetary terms the ecosystem services "air purification," "global climate regulation," and the ecosystem disservice "air pollution" associated with biogenic emissions. Our results show that the contribution of urban forests regulating services to abate pollution is substantial in absolute terms, yet modest when compared to overall city levels of air pollution and GHG emissions. We conclude that in order to be effective, green infrastructure-based efforts to offset urban pollution at the municipal level have to be coordinated with territorial policies at broader spatial scales.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA), Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), Campus UAB, Building C, 08193, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain, francesc.baro@uab.cat.
authors.forename: Francesc
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Baró
authors.forename: Lydia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chaparro
authors.forename: Erik
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gómez-Baggethun
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Langemeyer
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Nowak
authors.forename: Jaume
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Terradas
mesh_terms: D000397:Air Pollution / Q000517:prevention & control*; D002947:Cities; D057231:Climate Change; D055669:Ecological and Environmental Phenomena; D017753:Ecosystem; D016468:Forestry; D013030:Spain; D014197:Trees / Q000502:physiology
references.citation: Environ Pollut. 2013 Dec;183:104-12
references.pmid: 23274234
references.citation: Environ Pollut. 2013 Dec;183:113-22
references.pmid: 23194646
references.citation: J Environ Manage. 2010 Mar-Apr;91(4):807-13
references.pmid: 19914765
references.citation: Environ Pollut. 2011 Aug-Sep;159(8-9):2078-87
references.pmid: 21316130
references.citation: Environ Pollut. 1998;99(3):347-60
references.pmid: 15093299
references.citation: Environ Pollut. 2002;116(3):381-9
references.pmid: 11822716
references.citation: Environ Sci Technol. 2012 Jul 17;46(14):7692-9
references.pmid: 22663154
references.citation: Biol Lett. 2009 Jun 23;5(3):352-5
references.pmid: 19324636
references.citation: Gac Sanit. 2009 Jul-Aug;23(4):287-94
references.pmid: 19261357
references.citation: Trends Plant Sci. 2003 Mar;8(3):105-9
references.pmid: 12663219
references.citation: J Environ Manage. 2008 Jan;86(1):148-57
references.pmid: 17275162
references.citation: Environ Pollut. 2009 May;157(5):1506-12
references.pmid: 18977568
references.citation: Environ Pollut. 2011 Aug-Sep;159(8-9):2100-10
references.pmid: 21074914
references.citation: Environ Sci Technol. 2009 Oct 1;43(19):7297-302
references.pmid: 19848137