Ecosystem services of urban green sites- A case study from Eastern Himalayan foothills

Abstract

Parks and other green sites improve urban avenue and environment while also crucial to mitigate climate change. Indian cities are now experiencing high level of pollutions, so trees not only act as carbon sinks but also assist in improving the quality of urban life. Cooch Behar town located in northern part of West Bengal is also experiencing upsurge in urban development and population increase. Therefore the community parks and an institutional campus in the town were assessed for their species richness and the ecosystem services they provide. A total of 75 species represented by 39 families and 67 genera were documented from the urban green sites of Cooch Behar town. The dominant family found was Fabaceae followed by Arecaceae and Moraceae while Ficus was listed as dominant genus. The plant species documented were prominently classified under provisioning type of ecosystem services as 36 species were timbers, 26 species were edible and 24 species were fodder. Other services included species for providing shade (34 species), avenue (27 species) and aesthetic (25 species). The list also included plant species under IUCN Red list category of vulnerable species like Saraca asoca; endangered species like Swietenia mahagoni and Borassus flabellifer and Platycladus orientalis as threatened species. The maintenance of these IUCN Red listed species by the community parks and institutional campus of Cooch Behar town supports the belief that the urban green sites are also a crucial refuge for regional plant diversity in crowded, concrete and human dominated landscape.