A cost-effective analysis of urban forest management's role in improving air quality in Santiago, Chile.

详细信息   

• 作者：Escobedo Montoya ; Francisco J.
• 学历：Doctor
• 年：2004
• 导师：Wagner, John
• 毕业院校：State University of New York
• 专业：Agriculture, Forestry and Wildlife.;Environmental Sciences.;Urban and Regional Planning.
• ISBN：0496935941
• CBH：3160103
• Country：USA
• 语种：English
• FileSize：18845133
• Pages：297

文摘

An existing policy in Santiago, Chile aimed at improving air quality through urban forest management was analyzed using policy, urban forest cover transpiration-deposition, and economic models. Once the Gran Santiago 's 36 comunas were divided into 3 distinct socioeconomic strata or modeling domains, field measurements and the Urban Forest Effects model estimated that Santiago's 6.2 million trees and 643 square kilometers of combined tree and shrub leaf area improved air quality, via particulate matter (PM 10) removal, a mean monthly average of 3% during 1 year. PM10 removal per area of urban forest cover in the 967 km2 Gran Santiago airshed was higher in the low income strata despite the high income strata having a significantly greater leaf area and leaf area index. Results indicate that carbon offsets vary among the socioeconomic strata's urban forests and overall carbon offsets from Chile's urban forests are greater than those of industrialized countries'. Santiago's urban forest composition also influences volatile organic compound emissions.;A survey of representative comunas in each socioeconomic stratum determined that 4.6% of the total municipal budget was allocated to urban forest management. These costs can be extrapolated to the Gran Santiago's 36 other comunas. Results from the cost-management survey and the urban forest leaf-atmosphere process model were combined to determine a cost-effective metric that analyzed the use of urban forest management for air quality improvement. A cost-effectiveness metric in PM10 incremental abatement cost per area of municipal urban forest cover for each stratum was compared to existing technologies, policies, and literature and it was determined urban forest management is a cost-effective air quality improvement policy in Santiago, Chile. Indirect costs of urban forest management include volatile organic compound emissions and carbon dioxide emissions from maintenance activities and decomposition.;Urban forest and tree management can provide municipalities the incentive to use the urban forest's pollution abatement function in a compensaciones , or air pollution market-trading program. Thus, urban forest management's pollution removal ability can be effectively used and applied in the context of Chile's existing environmental and economic policies and possibly applied to other Latin American cities as well.