Climate change and urban forests

Abstract

Given global urbanization trends, where approximately 68% of the global population will reside in cities by 2050 (estimates by United Nations, 2018), the most common direct human experience of forests will occur in cities. Urban landcover is expected to increase by 40% in the coming decades (Chen et al., 2020), and as such, urbanization is a global driver of change to forest ecosystems outside of cities. Between 1990 and 2020, the area of land occupied by trees in urban settings increased by 7.45 million hectares (as reported by 36 countries, Food and Agriculture Organization [FAO], 2020). Urban areas benefit from greenspace and forests within them, not because of the products we extract but from the many ecosystem services they provide. In addition, exposure to urban green spaces positively impacts human health and well-being (Wolf et al., 2020). Trees play a key role in the provisioning, regulating, and supporting various ecological and cultural services (Hansen & Pauleit, 2014).

Citation

​Hallett, Richard A.; Piana, Max R.; Johnson, Michelle L.; Brandt, Leslie A. 2024. Climate change and urban forests. In: McNulty, Steven G., ed. Future Forests: Mitigation and Adaptation to Climate Change. Amsterdam: Elsevier Inc.: 243-264. Chapter 12. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-90430-8.00008-3