{"id":59487,"date":"2015-06-17T15:57:26","date_gmt":"2015-06-17T19:57:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/greenblue.com\/trees-and-climate-change\/"},"modified":"2024-03-17T09:49:27","modified_gmt":"2024-03-17T09:49:27","slug":"trees-and-climate-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greenblue.com\/ce\/trees-and-climate-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Trees and Climate Change"},"content":{"rendered":"

Climate change is\u00a0said to be the most significant\u00a0environmental challenge of the century. Governments around the globe are grappling with what to do and how to\u00a0mitigate the increasing threat.\u00a0With COP21, the United Nations Conference on Climate Change, just around the corner, cooperation of over 190 countries\u00a0aims to achieve a legally binding and universal agreement on climate.<\/p>\n

Mature trees can play an important part in national climate change strategies. In this article, we review how trees effect climate change to offer\u00a0landscape architects, urban designers, and other planning authorities a glimpse\u00a0into why\u00a0mature\u00a0trees should be\u00a0a critical part of our urban infrastructures.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Relation Between Trees and Climate Change<\/h3>\n

Greenhouse gases trap heat as they\u00a0accumulate\u00a0in the atmosphere. It is this increased heat that leads to climate pattern changes. Carbon dioxide, which the human race has produced increasing amounts over recent decades, is one of the largest\u00a0contributors to climate change. Trees decrease the concentration of carbon dioxide by absorbing it and converting it into clean oxygen. This\u00a0natural process, known as\u00a0photosynthesis, makes mature trees\u00a0our most efficient, cost effective, and natural form\u00a0to combat climate change.<\/p>\n

Managing our urban forests to help them retain, and more importantly increase, their carbon storage potential can maximize the\u00a0ability for trees to\u00a0mitigate climate change. It is essential that we recognize the value of this benefit by providing for our urban tree populations, implementing urban tree planting best practices<\/a>, and\u00a0avoiding urban and rural deforestation wherever possible.<\/p>\n

The Increasing Demand on Urban Planning & Design<\/h3>\n

By signing up to increasing international carbon reduction targets, governments around the world are\u00a0issuing\u00a0challenges to everyone involved in urban space design. While we cannot realistically claim that planting trees in cities will significantly affect global climate change, what we do know is that they have a major role to play in city climate mitigation and adaptation strategies.<\/p>\n

Trees can reduce temperatures around them by providing shade and cooling through transpiration and evaporation processes. Clusters of well established trees probably represent the most effective tool available<\/a> to urban designers in combating urban heat islands and heat sinks in cities. These pockets of heat accumulate in urban areas as a result of solar energy and glare reflected off engineered hard surfaces. These same surfaces store the heat and release it over night, scarcely having time to cool before the next sun rise.<\/p>\n

“One well established tree can have the effect of
\n10 room sized air conditioners \u2013 but of course from a
\ntotally sustainable and zero energy source!”<\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n

The current targets set for CO2 reduction are extremely challenging. By 2020, a reduction of 1.2 million tonnes of CO2 and higher per annum\u00a0is looked for in many countries, and by 2050 a reduction target of 80% of 2009 levels. These targets\u00a0however, could increase even more at COP21 in Paris.<\/p>\n

Implementing Trees into the Strategy & How\u00a0GreenBlue Can Help<\/strong><\/h3>\n

If trees are to play a part in carbon\u00a0reduction strategies, a lot needs to happen quickly. GreenBlue Infrastructure Solutions can help with\u00a0implementing trees into urban planning in a way that will ensure they reach maturity and offer the extend of their benefits.<\/p>\n