Estimating the Ecosystem Benefits of Urban Forestry

人们早就认识到，增加城市地区的树冠可以为环境和人类带来各种好处。由于新的科学研究、建模工具以及先进的绘图和监测技术，我们量化这些好处的能力正在提高。但是，在制定严格和广泛接受的方法来估计这些效益方面仍然存在许多不确定性和挑战。国家科学院将组织一次讲习班，审查目前确定和量化效益的能力。（即生态系统服务），包括减轻空气污染、减轻水污染、碳固存、减轻城市热岛、减少建筑物遮阳的能源需求，可能还包括对公众健康和福祉的直接好处。一些相关的讨论主题可能包括在理解和建模、测量和监测这些服务的能力方面的差距;目前为这些服务分配定量经济价值的能力;以最大限度地提高效益和最小限度地降低成本和潜力的方式维持长期冠层覆盖的战略。不利因素（例如，花粉量增加、火灾和风暴破坏的风险、水需求）;以及加强联邦机构、学术研究人员和从事所有这些问题的其他利益攸关方之间协调的机会。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。会议将包括全体会议发言、小组讨论会和小型分组会议，以鼓励所有与会者进行辩论和互动。将通过国家科学院出版社网站免费提供一份摘要报告，并将开展传播活动，以确保结果得到广泛传播。预计这些讨论将有助于在从事这一主题的众多各方之间形成未来的研究议程，如森林服务局、环境保护局、国家公园服务局、美国宇航局遥感方案、疾病控制中心公共卫生计划，能源部能源效率计划，州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。研讨会还可能有助于为市政领导人目前正在做出的决策提供信息，这些决策是根据它们将提供的好处来权衡对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。该讲习班将提供一个中立的论坛，召集各种各样的利益攸关方交流信息和观点。它还将为不同研究领域的交流提供一个机会，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），鼓励采取跨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.