Urban Trees and Water Management towards Climate Change Adaptation

This work is part of the climate change adaptation theme, focusing on the role and potential that trees in urban areas can have to actively contribute to its achievement. Carbon storage and sequestration, removal of atmospheric pollutants, oxygen production are just some of the benefits that can be drawn from the presence of a tree population in a city, within which environment the effects of ongoing climate change are more drastic. In this project, the aim is to analyse its contribution to the reduction of these effects within the urban area of Boadilla del Monte (Community of Madrid), through the use of a specific software suite for the ecosystem services evaluation offered by trees. Particular attention is paid to the urban water cycle, looking at the ability of trees to reduce surface urban runoff, through hydrological mechanisms such as interception, evaporation and transpiration of the tree-soil component. The results presented will show this capacity in quantitative terms, not only at a general level but also discretized by species and urban district. The aim is, on the one hand, to analyse the efficiency of the more than 110 species present in the production of ecosystem services and, on the other hand, to compare the sustainability offered by each individual district of the city, with a view to the future territorial planning.