Contribution of urban trees to carbon sequestration and reduction of air pollutants in Lima, Peru

Roberto Moreno, André Nery, Ricardo Zamora, Ángel Lora and Carmen Galán

Ecosystem Services, 2024, vol. 67, issue C

Abstract: Urban green areas, such as parks, squares, and tree-lined streets, are part of nature-based solutions (NBS) that provide ecosystem services to address these urban issues. However, there is limited knowledge about the contribution of tree species and overall ecosystem services provided by urban trees under public management, especially in Latin America. This study aimed to provide information on the contribution of urban trees in reducing highly incident pollutants, such as CO2, particulate matter (PM 2. 5 and 10), and greenhouse effect gas compounds (GEG) in the city of Lima (Peru), using the I-tree package software tool for estimating ecosystem services. The results demonstrate that urban trees under public management in Lima significantly contribute to pollutant reduction and the sequestration and storage of CO2 in the city, being that storage is nearly 50% of the levels observed in native temperate forests in Latin America and higher than the value measured in some xerophytic native forests in the same region. Other evaluated pollutantś levels are significantly reduced. Differences among tree species were observed, showing amatillo (Ficus pertusa L. f.) and red eucalyptus (Eucalyptus camaldulensis Dehnh.) as higher contributions to pollutant reduction, with Erythrina falcata Benth. as a native species having significant carbon storage (1,27 t/individual).

Keywords: Cities Pollution; Nature-based solutions; Ecosystem services; Urban trees (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221204162400024X
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecoser:v:67:y:2024:i:c:s221204162400024x

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoser.2024.101618

Access Statistics for this article

Ecosystem Services is currently edited by Leon C Braat

More articles in Ecosystem Services from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().