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As we know, the effects of climate change are already very noticeable all around the world. In Canada, significant weather phenomena have been felt over the past few years, such as heat waves, droughts, wildfires, floods, and storms. These extreme climatological events have severely affected the population in general, but especially those in vulnerable situations.
Thus, green spaces are key to climate change mitigation and resilience to its effects. Urban green spaces (UGS) contribute to mitigate climate change impacts via carbon sequestration which in turn contributes to lowering the rate of increase of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere. Furthermore, green spaces also play an important role in climate change adaptation, which includes moderation of temperature in urban areas, water management, agriculture, land use planning and human wealth.
But what constitutes a green space? Green spaces are commonly described as open-spaced green infrastructures, and there are many types which include:
Public spaces: Parks, conservations areas, greenways, trails, forests, street trees, community gardens, shorelines, and ravines.
Private and institutional spaces: home gardens, green roofs, green walls, cemeteries, golf courses, farmlands and other outdoor spaces.
Some of the many positive environmental benefits and ecological services that green spaces offer are: improvement of air quality, regulation of green house gases, reduction of urban heat island effect by cooling though evapotranspiration, provision of natural shade, flooding mitigation through storm water storage, noise reduction, carbon sequestration, erosion control and provision of food.
In addition, promoting and increasing green spaces requires a multi-sectoral collaboration to maximize their benefits for both the environment and its stakeholders, leading to the opportunity for multiple groups of a community to come together to achieve one big goal. To combat climate change and its effects, political, social, and economic conditions must be identified as well as resources available, in order to propose viable solutions. To this end, it is important that governments, groups, organizations, and businesses work together to make green spaces a priority for communities.
Sources:
Kingsley, M. Commentary - climate change, health and Green Space Co-benefits. Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention in Canada 39, 131–135 (2019).
Nero, B. F., Callo-Concha, D., Anning, A. & Denich, M. Urban green spaces enhance climate change mitigation in cities of the Global South: The case of Kumasi, Ghana. Procedia Engineering 198, 69–83 (2017).
Atiqul Haq, S. Md., Islam, M. N., Siddhanta, A., Ahmed, K. J. & Chowdhury, M. T. Public perceptions of urban green spaces: Convergences and divergences. Frontiers in Sustainable Cities 3, (2021).