EMoNFUr project results

Enrico Calvo & Giovanni Sanesi

ERSAF – Regione Lombardia DISAAT – University of Bari

Summary

1. Results of the Project

2. Assesment of the project

Background

During last decade the world׳s population living in urban areas, overpassed the

50% of the all the population; in Europe this percentage reach 70% and some

geographical context is still huger (United Nations, 2012). Urban forests are

often associated with in increment of quality of live in urban settlements. A lot of

research have reported that the proximity to green space in urban areas is

associated with improved well-being; in some studies is also reported that the

use of green spaces can improve the well-being including benefits related to both

physical and mental health.

Objectives

The main Emonfur Project’s objective was to monitor the lowland, urban and

periurban forests (UPFs) that have a fundamental role for environmental balance

and sociality of the local communities, and are able to provide ecosystem

services for the community.

Through a wide-ranging monitoring activity of some areas in Lombardy (ITA) and

Slovenia, the project provided a methodology for assessing the impacts of the

urban and periurban forests on preservation, biodiversity maintaining, UHI

mitigation, CO2 sink, and UPFs’ influence in the preservation of the land and

quality of life of the local communities. At the same time, the project assessed the

effects of climate change on the evolution of the urban forest and specifically on

the development of some tree pathologies.

Objectives

The objectives of the project were:

- monitoring some sample areas in Lombardy and Slovenia in order to check the evolution and

growth of the forest systems given the situation of the ongoing climate changes and to study

the ecosystem services supplied by the urban and periurban forests;

- carrying out the first inventory of the urban and periurban forests, and the ones of artificial

origin in Lombardy as reference for future inventories at national level;

- defining , as first experience of a permanent monitoring network of the natural and artificial

origin urban and periurban forests;

- developing a monitoring proposal that constitutes a reference point at European level;

- assessing governance activities for the urban and periurban forests in Lombardy and

Slovenia;

- involving the local communities on the importance of monitoring and about the significant

role of the forests in the mitigation of climate changes, and improve the quality of life in urban

and periurban areas.

Upf in Lombardy INDICATORS URBAN AND PERIURBAN FOREST AREAS IN LOMBARDY

UPF Region

N. Urban municipalities classified

714 46,24 %

Forest area in urban municipalities

Ha 130.431 20,99 %

Forest area index 17,24 % 26 %

Mq forest/people 131 mq 621 mq

Average surface of municipalty

Ha 183 Ha 402

Cuts of timber 220.319 mc 593.397 mc

Monitoring Plots

+ area slovena

Monitoring Plots

1. FORESTS

2. BIODIVERSTY • Butterflies • Carabids • Flora&Habitat • Birds

3. PEDOLOGY

4. MITIGATION (climate, pollution)

• Etc.

Monitoring Plots

Monitoring Plots

Results

• 51 species

• 1246 individuals

• Number of species

affected by the size of the

forest patch

Results

• 22 species

• 113 individuals

• Number of species

affected by the vegetation

data and forest structures

Monitoring Plots

34%

5% 40%

15% 6%

Phanerophytes

Chamaephytes

HemicryptophytesGeophytes

Therophytes

Monitoring Plots

Monitoring Plots

Sites with increasing levels of UHI

Milan Linate (LIML) – rural suburban area

Milan Marche (MIMA)– UHI plateau

Milan Brera (MIBR) – UHI peak

Milan Parco Nord (PNM) – Urban park

Mean hourly temperature of the month

(1981-2013)

Month Hour LIML PNm MIBR MIMA

Jan

0 0.2 1.2 2.2 2.5

6 -1.8 -0.7 0.5 1.2

12 4.7 5.6 5.8 5.6

18 3.8 4.6 5.1 4.9

Apr

0 8.9 9.7 10.9 11.2

6 7.8 8.7 10.0 10.2

12 16.9 17.5 17.8 17.1

18 14.8 15.5 16.0 15.7

Jul

0 19.2 19.9 20.9 21.9

6 19.4 20.1 21.1 21.6

12 28.7 29.5 29.6 29.1

18 26.0 26.8 27.1 27.3

Oct

0 11.0 11.7 12.1 13.0

6 9.0 9.9 10.4 11.6

12 17.0 17.5 17.2 17.2

18 15.6 15.9 15.9 16.0

Ecosystem Services

CONTRIBUTO UPF ALLO

STOCK DI C,

COMUNI URBANI

LOMBARDIA

Products www.emonfur.eu/download/deliverableproducts/

Awareness

User Committee

3 Workshop in Lombardy and course on monitoring in urban

forest for SFS regional foresters

Informations: 4 TV – 3 Radio – 80 articoli su quotidiani e riviste

3 filmati di interviste pubblicati sul Blog

61 post pubblicati – 11.000 visualizzazioni – 258 “mi piace” su

Facebook

Awareness

Accessi al sito: 13.696

Utenti: 7387

Awareness – EFUF 2013

Organizzazione a Milano del XVI Congresso EFUF 2013

180 partecipanti

30 paesi di provenienza

Awareness – EFUF 2013

La Carta di Milano

Governance Ambientale Strategica per

Infrastrutture Verdi e Foreste Urbane

Special Memory

Scientific results

Presentations at conferences 36

Scientific papers published 18

Scientific papers submitted or in preparation 6

The community

http://www.emonfur.eu/