iTree Leeds: Putting a value on the city’s trees
Dr Cat Scott, Dr Dominick Spracklen and Dr Martin Dallimer
Urban green spaces such as domestic gardens, parks and woodlands provide many benefits to human urban populations, and a vital habitat for wildlife. Green spaces affect our health by improving air quality and limit the impact of heatwaves by reducing urban temperatures. The presence of green spaces can also enhance the health and wellbeing of people living and working in cities by improving physical fitness and reducing depression. In addition, urban vegetation stores carbon, helping to mitigate climate change, and reduces the likelihood of flooding by storing excess rain water. However, these benefits are difficult to quantify and compare to other, more easily monetised, potential uses of the land.
As part of the Leeds4Trees project, and in collaboration with the United Bank of Carbon, Leeds City Council, Treeconomics, The Conservation Volunteers and the Sustainability Service at the University of Leeds, we are investigating the economic value of green spaces across the city of Leeds.
Local authorities around the UK are under considerable pressure to cut spending on many of the services they provide, and those responsible for parks and woodlands lack information about the value to society of the green spaces they manage.
In this REP, the student would contribute to the first stage of our Leeds-wide project which will involve a detailed survey of the trees on the University of Leeds campus and at the Leeds Forest Observatory in Middleton Park.
The Leeds Forest Observatory (LFO) is a natural ecosystem field laboratory recently established by the Leeds Ecosystem Atmosphere and Forest (LEAF) centre at the University of Leeds, in collaboration with Leeds City Council and the United Bank of Carbon. Research at the LFO will allow us to explore the important role of urban forests in the provision of ecosystem services.
The LFO is a 1 hectare region of woodland in Middleton Park (South Leeds), home to the second largest remaining area of ancient woodland in West Yorkshire. Through long term monitoring of the site, we will enhance our understanding of the role of forests in mitigating climate change, improving air quality, reducing flood risk, enhancing human health and well-being, and maintaining biodiversity.
To estimate the ecosystem services being provided by the campus and LFO trees, the student will also be supported in using the i-Tree software which allows estimates of the economic value of trees in terms of carbon storage, contribution to air quality, and flood risk reduction.
LFO - From UBoC and LEAF from TomBliss on Vimeo.
Undertaking a REP with us would give the student the opportunity to:
- Review the existing literature on the impacts of green spaces in urban areas
- Collect field data on campus and at the Leeds Forest Observatory
- Perform analysis of this data to understand the role of woodlands in the wider urban environment; use the iTree software to generate an economic valuation for the part of the woodland under investigation
- Present results from the project to relevant stakeholders and decision makers
The student would join the Biosphere Atmosphere Group and have the opportunity to attend research presentations and group meetings to learn more about the research being conducted in the School of Earth and Environment. The student would also gain experience in working with a charity, the United Bank of Carbon.