Abstract
In their natural state, wetland ecosystems provide an optimum natural environment for the sequestration and long-term storage of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere. The loss of wetlands under advancing urbanization not only diminishes this capacity for storage, but increases methane and greenhouse gases as the land is disturbed. Nevertheless, there is growing scientific interest in using artificial or constructed wetlands as a way to mitigate the impact of global climate change, with most attention on their use for water management. Using a potential integrated urban wetland site in Glasgow as a case study, this paper critically examines how artificial urban wetlands can contribute to urban net zero targets in terms of their ability for carbon sequestration, and as part of sustainability initiatives more broadly. We find there are several barriers to implementing artificial urban wetlands for carbon drawdown alone, in particular regarding land ownership constraints, uncertainties in capture efficacy and capture quantitation, and eligibility for market-based crediting schemes. These issues make it currently challenging for the carbon reduction contribution of urban wetlands to be quantified and, say, certified to generate revenue to communities through market-based carbon crediting. However, if integrated within wider community-based sustainability initiatives, artificial urban wetlands can support multiple dimensions of sustainability, creating or supporting value far beyond water management and carbon sequestration objectives. Potential co-benefits range from areas such as health and wellbeing, biodiversity, education, food security, behavioural changes, and social care. Our findings show that for these co-benefits to be identified, maximised and realised, a place-based approach to urban wetland development must be adopted, engaging stakeholders from the project outset to define and facilitate collaboration towards shared outcomes for society, community, and environment. These findings will be relevant to any urban infrastructure development seeking to meet sustainability goals beyond carbon capture.
Highlights
The rapid expansion of the world’s urban population has put pressure on natural landscapes at an unprecedented rate and has led to the significant loss of natural wetlands, a resource which plays a critical role in climate change, biodiversity, hydrology, and human health
The case study provided an opportunity to explore two key elements of how artificial urban wetlands could possibly contribute to net zero pathways; firstly, through a direct contribution to carbon reduction and sequestration supported by carbon credit schemes; and secondly, through more indirect carbon reduction as part of an integrated community development project
Artificial urban wetlands are known to bring benefits in terms of water management and habitats that contribute to the sustainability of social ecological systems
Summary
The rapid expansion of the world’s urban population has put pressure on natural landscapes at an unprecedented rate and has led to the significant loss of natural wetlands, a resource which plays a critical role in climate change, biodiversity, hydrology, and human health. Despite planning initiatives to reduce urban sprawl and promote more compact cities, wetland loss has continued with urbanisation, to the point where it is claimed between one third and one half of all wetlands have been lost over the last past two centuries (Davidson, 2014; Hu et al, 2017) In response to such loss, constructed or artificial urban wetlands (i.e., areas of high water saturation such as fresh or saltwater marshes and lakes) have been viewed as an effective type of nature-based solution for water management and are being increasingly adopted internationally, centred on “living with and making space for water” (O’Donnell et al, 2017). In Melbourne, Australia, more than 600 smallscale wetland areas form part of an integrated urban water management scheme, providing rich environments for wildlife alongside storm water management (Furlong et al, 2016; Oral et al, 2020)
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