Contribution of Urban Forests to the Ecosystem Service of Air Quality in the City of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Solhanlle Bonilla-Duarte,Claudia Caballero González,Leonardo Cortés Rodríguez,Ulises Javier Jáuregui-Haza,Agustín García-García

doi:10.3390/f12091249

Solhanlle Bonilla-Duarte, Claudia Caballero González + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/f12091249

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Abstract

A survey on pollutants that affect air quality was carried out at 27 points in the city of Santo Domingo, National District. The removal of air pollutants was estimated in relation to the city’s forest cover; using the iTree Canopy software. A principal components analysis and a correlation analysis was also performed to identify the association of these variables. The results show that the average percentage of green infrastructure in the sampling points was 26%. Also, positive correlation was identified between the presence of NO2 and SO2 at the sampling points. It was observed that the higher the presence of forest cover, the higher the concentration of CO and the lower the presence of pollutants. Although five hot spots were defined in terms of air pollution levels in the National District, the study does not show conclusive results regarding the relationship between green infrastructure and air quality in Santo Domingo. Results show that urban planning for environmental quality requires inter-institutional coordination, permanent ecological quality monitoring, and coordinated public policies to establish adequate indicators comparable to the World Health Organization standards.

Highlights

Air quality constitutes one of the environmental issues that requires the most attention in the 21st century for urban areas with high population density [1,2,3,4]
The principal component analysis shows that according to WHO [20], the maximum annual allowed levels for particles and air pollutants measured in this investigation are: for NO2 40 μg/m3, for SO2 20 μg/m3 and for PM10 20 μg/m3
Taking WHO values as an indicator for estimating the level of contamination in Santo Domingo, we found that points 7 and 27 exceed the levels of Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) and neither sampling point exceeds the maximum permissible levels of Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) nor Carbon Monoxide (CO)

Summary

Introduction

Air quality constitutes one of the environmental issues that requires the most attention in the 21st century for urban areas with high population density [1,2,3,4]. Air pollution can affect everyone, differences are perceived between population groups, according to geographic locations and the type of exposure they are subjected to [4,5,6]. Population groups residing near roads or industrial compounds, for example, are exposed to higher levels of outdoor air pollution, including people using solid fuels as a source of household energy [5,7]. Differences in exposure between population groups may be linked to inequities in developing implementing, and enforcing environmental laws, regulations, and policies [4,5]. According to 2018 records, the dependence on fossil fuels for transportation, industry and energy was of 80% globally [4]. It is expected that 66% of the world’s population will be living in cities by 2050, which implies a significant growth in demand for services, like transportation, energy, and industry [8]

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