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Newsletter #1 - Spring 2021
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We are pleased to present the first Newsletter of the project AIRFRESH "Air pollution removal by urban forests for a better human well-being".
The context, main objectives, core actions and first activities are presented here.
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AIRFRESH: a demonstrative and timely project
Following the Urban Agenda of the European Union (EU) that makes specific reference to nature-based solutions for urban and territorial planning (art. 157), and the recent Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 “Bringing
nature back into our lives” (COM(2020) 380 final), the Commission calls on European cities of at least 20,000 inhabitants to develop
ambitious Urban Greening Plans. A new EU Forest Strategy, including a roadmap for planting at least 3 billion additional trees in the EU by 2030, will be released in 2021.
The heat waves and air pollution peaks occurred in summer 2019 across Europe, and the recent lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic increased awareness of public authorities towards the use of urban trees for
mitigating the air pollution and climate change effects and opened the door to
tree planting strategies to improve citizens’ health and well-being.
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Fig. 1 - Urban trees and air pollution interactions
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Urban reforestation, e.g., by increasing tree density in cities, and peri-urban reforestation, near densely populated cities where it
is not easy to plant trees, can help improve air quality and meet clean air standards in cities. However, if municipalities hurriedly plant any tree species anywhere, these tree planting strategies may degrade air quality.
To efficiently reduce air pollution in cities, municipalities and city planners urgently need a
quantitative and concrete assessment
of the role of urban trees in affecting air quality and a
suitable selection of tree species.
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Fig. 2 - Example of “re-greening cities” (Green path in Nice, France)
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We have selected two Mediterranean front-runner cities, Aix-en-Provence in Southern France (143,000 inhabitants) and
Florence in Italy (380,000 inhabitants), where human exposure regularly exceeds the World Health Organization protection limits of particles (PM2.5,
PM10), nitrogen dioxide (NO2)
and tropospheric ozone (O3) with increasing O3 levels since 2000.
In 2019, a total of 29 and 69 premature deaths and 189 and 416 hospital admissions for cardiovascular and respiratory diseases were attributed to ambient O3,
NO2, PM2.5 and PM10
levels above the WHO limit values in Aix and Florence, respectively.
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Fig. 3 - Front-runner cities: Aix-en-Provence (left) and Florence (right)
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Main actions
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The project AIRFRESH which started in September 2020 aims to: 1) estimate the air pollution removal capacity by current urban trees in
both cities; 2) estimate and quantify the environmental and health benefits provided by the new reforested test area; and 3) propose recommendations for reforestation policies (e.g., number and type of tree species to be planted) for attainment of the air
quality standards in both cities.
As large-scale reforestation is not feasible within a project, two test areas will be implemented (tree planting in 2022; each area: 400 fast-growing trees, mix of species, > 2 m tall, equivalent
to 1ha). Measurement campaigns of air pollution concentrations and air temperature/humidity will be carried out in and around each area, above and below the canopy, before (2021) and after
tree planting (2023-2024). Air pollutant dry deposition, including stomatal uptake and non-stomatal deposition, will be simulated to quantify the air pollution filtered by the present forests at city scale, and by reforested areas. The
environmental and socio-economic benefits
will be estimated before (2021) and after reforestation (2023-2024, and 2030) through key indicators.
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Fig. 4 - Tree planting ceremony - Godfathering of a tree
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Kick-Off Meeting -
18 September 2020
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Due to COVID-19 pandemic, we organized a one-day video-conference meeting among partners to present and discuss objectives, actions,
expected results and technical and financial issues of the AIRFRESH project. A round table allowed defining the role of each partner in the project and planning the main targets and steps for the first year.
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Fig. 5 - Virtual kick-off meeting
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First meetings with local stakeholders -
06 and 11 November, 30 December, 2020
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Three
co-design workshops were organized by ARGANS in Aix-en-Provence (France) and by IRET-CNR in Florence (Italy) with representatives from the municipalities involved in the implementation of
both test areas.
The open two-way interactive discussion allowed cross-fertilization of ideas. In Aix, the local stakeholders (including regional council, conurbation, and municipality officers) informed the
project partners of their expectations and provided a list of parameters and characteristics to be included for tree selection. In Florence, pros and cons of the area of planting were discussed, and a decision was finalized.
Based on scientific and local requirements, project partners started to rank the plant species according to their characteristics: suitability to the local climate; effectiveness in removing
air pollutants; CO2 sequestration potential; tolerance to drought, to pest and disease; and
pollen allergenicity. This list will be discussed with the municipality by June 2021.
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Fig 6 - On left: Face-to-face and virtual meeting in Aix-en-Provence on 6 November 2020 with representatives from municipality, conurbation,
regional council, and Dr Pierre Sicard (ARGANS). On right: Face-to-face meeting in Florence on 11 November 2020 between the Vice Mayor Alessia Bettini and Dr Elena Paoletti (IRET-CNR).
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Tree inventory by remote sensing
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Municipal tree inventories, based on field observations and mapped in a GIS database, includes only trees managed by the municipality
which may represents a very limited part of the total number of trees in a city. For a
realistic quantification of the Ecosystem Services provided by urban trees, we need a
consistent database to avoid a large underestimation of air pollution removal capacity by urban trees.
An approach elaborated by the project team, led by Ms. Fatimatou Coulibaly (ARGANS), allows detecting and estimating the tree characteristics including private areas (e.g. distribution, species, height, canopy cover) from
high-resolution Pleiades images by textural and spectral classification and tri-stereoscopy.
To overcome urban challenges, a great opportunity is offered by high-resolution satellite images to 1) provide a realistic and full tree inventory in both cities; 2) consistently quantify the benefits provided by urban trees at present and after reforestation
at city scale and 3) upscale activities at conurbation scale.
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Fig. 7 - Mapping of tree species in Florence (left) and mapping of canopy cover and tree height in Aix-en-Provence (right).
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Upcoming events
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Urban Forestry Days
23-24 March 2021
FORECOMON 2021
7-9 June 2021
Birmensdorf, Switzerland
Air Pollution & Plants International Conference
11-15 October 2021
Paphos, Cyprus
Conference on Landscape and Urban Horticulture
14-17 December 2021
Catania, Italy
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This project has received funding from the European Union - LIFE financial instrument in the framework of the AIRFRESH project (LIFE19
ENV/FR/000086).
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