Understanding the Ecosystem Services of Urban Forests: Implications for Climate Change Mitigtation in the case of Adama City of Oromiya Region Sate, Ethiopia
Abstract Background this study was conducted to explore the ecosystem services of urban forests in Adama city, central Ethiopia. Attempts were made to quantify the carbon storage and sequestration, air pollution removal and hydrological benefits of urban trees. The urban forest stracture and composition of the city was surveyed and analyzed. The i-Tree Eco Model was employed to analyze the ecosystem services based on the current urban forests structure of the city. Results the result revealed that the urban trees of the Adama city stored a total of 116,000 tons of carbon. The tree species identified with higher CO2 sequestration per year were Melia azedarach (15%), Eucalyptusglobulus (8%, Carica papaya(7%), and Delonix regia (6%). Approximately 22, 12, 10 and 4% of carbon were stored by Eucalyptus globulus, Melia azedarach, Carica papaya and Delonix regia tree species respectively. Moreover, trees and shrubs spps. in the city removed about 188 thousand tons of air pollutants caused by O3, CO, NO2, PM2.5 and SO2 per year. In Adama, 35% of the urban trees’ VOC emissions were from Eucalyptus cinerea and Eucalyptus globulus. The monetary value of Adama urban forest in terms of carbon storage, carbon sequestration, and pollution removal was estimated to 43,781, 3,121 yr− 1 and 320,915,596 USD yr− 1, respectively. Conclusions it was concluded that significant quantiy of CO2 and air pollutnants were found being removed by the exotic tree and shrub species. However, every plant species found in the city does not mean ecologically important due their VOC emitting nature. Thus, proper planning and inventories of urban forests should be put in place by the key stakeholders such as government, urban foresters and city dwellers as urban trees mitigates climate changes and essential to alleviate urban pollution besides the trees add esthetic value to the city.