Urban Parks and Native Trees: A Profitable Strategy for Carbon Sequestration and Climate Resilience

Zainab Rehman, Muhammad Zubair (), Basharat A. Dar, Muhammad M. Habib (), Ahmed M. Abd-ElGawad, Ghulam Yasin, Matoor Mohsin Gilani, Jahangir A. Malik, Muhammad Talha Rafique and Jahanzaib Jahanzaib
Additional contact information
Zainab Rehman: Department of Forestry and Range Management, FAS&T, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan 60000, Pakistan
Muhammad Zubair: Department of Forestry and Range Management, FAS&T, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan 60000, Pakistan
Basharat A. Dar: Plant Production Department, College of Food & Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2460, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Muhammad M. Habib: Plant Production Department, College of Food & Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2460, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Ahmed M. Abd-ElGawad: Plant Production Department, College of Food & Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2460, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Ghulam Yasin: Department of Forestry and Range Management, FAS&T, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan 60000, Pakistan
Matoor Mohsin Gilani: Department of Forestry and Range Management, FAS&T, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan 60000, Pakistan
Jahangir A. Malik: Plant Production Department, College of Food & Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2460, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Muhammad Talha Rafique: Department of Forestry and Range Management, FAS&T, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan 60000, Pakistan
Jahanzaib Jahanzaib: Department of Renewable Resources, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2R3, Canada

Land, 2025, vol. 14, issue 4, 1-16

Abstract: Urban green spaces are increasingly recognized for their potential to mitigate climate change by reducing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide (CO 2 ). However, enhancing carbon sequestration efficiency in limited urban green areas remains a significant challenge for sustainable urban planning. Trees are among the most cost-effective and efficient natural carbon sinks, surpassing other types of land cover in terms CO 2 absorption and storage. The present study aimed to evaluate the carbon sequestration potential of four native tree species, Pongamia pinnata , Azadirachta indica , Melia azedarach , and Dalbergia sissoo , in urban parks across Multan City, Pakistan. A total of 456 trees of selected species within six parks of Multan City were inventoried to estimate the biomass and carbon stock using species-specific allometric equations. Soil organic carbon at two soil depths beneath the canopy of each tree was also estimated using Walkley–Black method. The findings revealed that the highest mean tree biomass (2.16 Mg ha −1 ), carbon stock (1.04 Mg ha −1 ) and carbon sequestration (3.80 Mg ha −1 ) were estimated for Dalbergia sissoo , while Melia azedarach exhibited the lowest (0.12 Mg ha −1 , 0.06 Mg ha −1 & 0.23 Mg ha −1 , respectively) across all six parks. The soil carbon stocks ranged from 48.86 Mg ha −1 to 61.68 Mg ha −1 across all study sites. These findings emphasize the importance of species selection in urban green planning for carbon sequestration. Strategic planting of effective native trees like Dalbergia sissoo can mitigate climate change and provide urban forest ecosystem services.

Keywords: carbon stock; CO 2 sequestration; climate change; Dalbergia sissoo; ecosystem services; urban parks (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/4/903/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/4/903/ (text/html)

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:gam:jlands:v:14:y:2025:i:4:p:903-:d:1638413

Access Statistics for this article

Land is currently edited by Ms. Carol Ma

More articles in Land from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().