Trees provide a variety of climate adaptation and mitigation benefits. Adaptive benefits are those that will help increase community resilience to climate changes that are already baked into our collective future. Mitigative benefits are those that will help to prevent further change.
Just a few of the adaptive benefits of trees include that they help to:
- manage stormwater and runoff from roads in areas with a lot of impervious (hard) surfaces,
- reduce flooding by intercepting rainfall, promoting higher soil infiltration rates, and increasing hydrological “roughness” (i.e., water experiences increased frictional resistance when passing over land),
- reduce the impact of vehicle emissions by trapping airborne pollutants and buffering toxins while purifying the air,
- provide shade to off-set the ‘heat island effect’ in heavily paved areas with limited tree canopy, essentially reducing or regulating high temperatures in local areas,
- control soil erosion with their roots, and
- improve water quality.
A few of the climate change mitigation provided by trees include that they:
- remove carbon dioxide from the air, and release oxygen, and
- can reduce energy usage by providing shade and reducing the need for air conditioning.
Trees also provide countless additional services beyond those associated with climate change. They support and enhance biodiversity and ecological resilience; beautify landscapes; provide spiritual and cultural oases; and can support economic stability, just to name a few. They also are inherently valuable for their own sake, are living organisms, and important members of the communities wherever they grow.
Species Information
