The study illustrates how parks serve a purpose in the context of climate change by demonstrating that urban parks and green spaces around the world have comparable soil carbon levels to the natural areas that surround our cities.
Urban green spaces, such as parks and gardens, are thought to be an essential component of cities and frequently the only contact that people have with nature, according to a study by an international team of researchers that included Dr. Jay Prakash Verma and his student Dr. Durgesh Kumar Jaiswal from Banaras Hindu University.
These urban green areas offer us a wide range of ecosystem services, from boosting our immune systems to moderating heat waves and floods—services that are particularly crucial in the current context of urbanization—as well as enhancing physical and mental wellbeing. At Banaras Hindu University's Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development, Dr. Verma holds the position of Senior Assistant Professor. Under Dr. Verma's guidance, Dr. Durgesh Kumar Jaiswal successfully finished his doctoral work.
The study's results have been released in the prestigious scientific journal "Nature Climate Change."
These urban green areas contribute significantly to the global carbon sequestration process, which is crucial for reducing CO2 emissions and the effects of climate change. The carbon deposited in our parks also helps to maintain soil biodiversity and promotes park sustainability, both of which reduce costs to the public purse. Urban green spaces' carbon content, governing mechanisms, and sensitivity to global warming have not yet been assessed, which has left projections regarding the scope of carbon sequestration in these ecosystems quite dubious.
In this study, samples were taken from 56 cities spread across all continents. The study emphasises the fundamental function of urban green spaces as carbon sinks.
The study shows that several biological processes control the amount of carbon in urban and rural locations. The primary productivity of the ecosystem and the carbon in natural places are intimately related, with the carbon in parks and gardens being especially dependent on soil bacteria. According to this theory, ecosystem management (such as mowing) is crucial in explaining how carbon is stored in urban green spaces.
Last but not least, the study contends that microorganisms' significance as carbon regulators in urban parks is a double-edged sword. This research was conducted as a part of the URBANFUN project of the BBVA Foundation, which was given to Dr. Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo. Twenty institutions from different countries, including India, took part in the project.