Estimating the Ecosystem Benefits of Urban Forestry

人们早就认识到，在城市地区增加树冠可以为环境和人类提供各种好处。由于新的科学研究、建模工具以及先进的制图和监测技术，我们量化这些好处的能力正在提高。但是，在制定严格和被广泛接受的评估这些效益的方法方面，仍然存在许多不确定因素和挑战。美国国家科学院将组织一次讲习班，审查目前的能力，以描述和量化大都市地区树木和森林冠层所提供的效益（即生态系统服务），包括缓解空气污染、缓解水污染、碳封存、缓解城市热岛、减少建筑物遮阳带来的能源需求，可能还包括对公共健康和福祉的直接效益。一些相关的讨论主题可能包括在理解和模拟、测量和监测这些服务的能力方面的差距；为这些服务分配定量经济价值的当前能力；以最大化效益和最小化成本和潜力的方式维持长期树冠覆盖的策略？不利因素（例如，花粉负荷增加，火灾和风暴破坏的风险增加，水需求增加）；以及加强联邦机构、学术研究人员和其他利益相关者在所有这些问题上的协调的机会。讲习班将由一个具有一系列相关学科专门知识的规划小组组织。它将包括全体会议发言、小组讨论和小型分组会议，以鼓励所有参与者之间的辩论和互动。总结报告将通过国家科学院出版社网站免费提供，并将开展宣传活动，确保结果得到广泛分发。预计这些讨论将有助于形成未来研究议程的众多各方在这个主题，如研究人员林业局，环境保护局，国家公园管理局，美国国家航空航天局遥感计划，疾病控制中心公共卫生计划，能源部能源效率计划，国家和地方林业和土地管理组织，以及非政府组织和学术研究人员。该研讨会还有助于为市政领导人根据其将提供的利益权衡扩大城市树冠的投资，以及州和地区官员试图将植树作为空气质量和水质控制以及气候变化行动计划的官方措施的决策提供信息。该讲习班将提供一个中立的论坛，召集各种相关利益攸关方分享信息和观点。它还将为不同研究领域之间的交流提供机会，这些研究领域传统上只关注一种类型的生态系统服务（如森林对空气污染、水污染或碳吸收的影响），鼓励采用跨越不同领域的更综合的方法。

It has long been recognized that increasing the tree canopy in an urban area can provide a variety of benefits to the environment and to people. Our ability to quantify these benefits is improving, due to new scientific research, modeling tools, and advances mapping and monitoring technologies. But many uncertainties and challenges remain in developing rigorous and widely accepted methods for estimating such benefits. The National Academy of Sciences will organize a workshop to examine current capabilities to characterize and quantify the benefits (that is, ecosystem services) provided by trees and forest canopy cover within a metropolitan area, including air pollution mitigation, water pollution mitigation, carbon sequestration, urban heat island mitigation, reduced energy demand from shading of buildings, possibly also including the direct benefits to public health and well-being. Some related discussion topics may include gaps in understanding and ability to model, measure and monitor such services; current capabilities for assigning quantitative economicvalue to these services; strategies to sustain long-term canopy cover in a way that maximizes benefits and minimizes costs and potential ?dis-benefits (for example, increased pollen load, risk of fire and storm damages, water requirements); and opportunities for enhancing coordination among federal agencies, academic researchers, and other stakeholders working on all these issues. The workshop will be organized by a planning group with expertise in a range of relevant disciplines. It will include a mix of plenary presentations, panel discussion sessions and small breakout sessions, to encourage debate and interaction among all participants. A summary report will be made freely available through the National Academy Press website, and dissemination activities will be conducted to ensure that the results are widely distributed.It is expected that these discussions will help shape the future research agenda among numerous parties working on this topic, such as researchers within the Forest Service, Environmental Protection Agency, National Park Service, NASA remote sensing programs, Center for Disease Control public health programs, Department of Energy energy efficiency programs, state and local forestry and land management organizations, as well as non-governmental organizations and academic researchers. The workshop may also help inform decisions that are currently being made by municipal leaders weighing investments in expanding urban tree canopies based on the benefits they will provide, and by state and regional officials attempting to include tree planting as an official measure in air quality and water qualitycontrol and climate change action plans. This workshop will provide a neutral forum for convening a wide diversity of relevant stakeholders for sharing of information and perspectives. It will also provide an opportunity for communication across different realms of research that traditionally focus on justone type of ecosystem service (such as forest impacts on air pollution, water pollution, or carbon uptake) encouraging more integrated approaches that cut across different realms.