It’s now understood that the urban plant’s’ role as a carbon sink was underestimated and that the greenery embellishing our cities have value that go beyond mere aesthetics.
In what was said to be a European first. A team of scientists combined efforts in order to quantify the volume of carbon stored in urban vegetation. The study used satellite data and field research to assess the amount of vegetation across Leicester, in the U.K., a city with an estimated population of 300,000 people. No green spaces were left unnoticed: public places, domestic gardens, road verges and abandoned industrial land.
The study revealed that large trees are the big stars, being important carbon stores. Overall, the team estimated that 231,000 tons were locked in the city’s vegetation, most of that stored by trees. This is the equivalent of 3.16Kg per square meter.
The modern tendency in landscaping is to opt for big extensions of grassland for the publicly owned spaces in Leicester. Researchers are of the opinion that if just 10% of these areas were planted with trees, then the existing carbon pool across the city could be increased by 12%. This is of huge interest to the British because of the UK´s commitment to reach the country’s target of cutting CO2 emissions by 80% by 2050.
Furthermore, the study highlights the need to change the general perception about urban ecosystems, which until now tended to underestimate its ecological value, simply because they have been heavily modified by humans and are relatively small in size.
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