Urban green infrastructure as a strategy of climate change mitigation. A case study in northern Spain

Abstract

Sustainable development challenges are increasingly concentrated in urban areas. In the European Union (EU), cities are expanding their urban green infrastructure (UGI) to reduce the effects of climate change and enhance resilience and sustainability. However, there exist few articles showing local case studies in intermediate cities of Europe. The aim of this study is to analyse the climate change mitigation potential of a set of urban forests and agriculture actions implemented within the EU LIFE Program, in the northern Spain city of Lugo. First, the amount of CO2 reduced by the UGI was calculated, also considering the emissions released from their implementation and management (I&M). In addition, the ecological balance was estimated, as an indicator to determine the sustainability of the UGI actions. Both biocapacity and quantity of emissions during I&M were found to be significantly different between the urban agriculture and urban forestry actions, showing that the type of UGI selected and its management has a great influence on the final carbon uptake. The global ecological balance was equal to 1.85 Global hectares, indicating that the evaluated UGI actions are effective at contributing to the climate change mitigation, in addition to other great co-benefits. Nonetheless, carbon uptake was 0.26 t C ha-1 per year, which is in the lower range compared to other cities in Europe. The quantification of benefits of this individual city experience is important to increase the attention of policies and management plans on UGI.