Green infrastructure provides a wide variety of ecosystem services.
Ecosystem services can be grouped into four categories:
- Provisioning (e.g., food supply)
- Regulating (e.g., climate control)
- Supporting (e.g., soil formation)
- Cultural (e.g., recreation)
Since ecosystem services have tangible benefits for humans, some of which can be assigned a monetary value, incorporating these ecosystem services into discussions and decision-making greatly enhances the perceived overall value of green infrastructure relative to its costs.
Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) is at the forefront of quantifying, valuing, and mapping the ecosystem services provided by green infrastructure.
TRCA’s Ecosystem Services Projects
Natural Asset Carbon Assessment Guide and Toolbox
Conservation authorities and municipalities are increasingly interested in accounting for the benefits provided by green infrastructure for mitigating climate change.
Collaborating with Credit Valley Conservation (CVC) and Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority (LSRCA), TRCA published a guide in 2022 to estimate carbon sequestration and storage by various types of green infrastructure, including trees and forests.
Collaborative projects with CVC and LSRCA, funded by Environment and Climate Change Canada, are currently underway to update carbon storage and sequestration rates in the guide for forests and wetlands.
Nature-Based Climate Solutions Siting Tool
Nature-based climate solutions (NBCS) offer ecosystem-based approaches to address societal challenges, environmental health issues, and climate change.
NBCS can include the protection or restoration of natural features and areas such as forests, wetlands, and meadows, as well as the implementation of other green infrastructure assets such as street and backyard trees, green roofs, and rain gardens.
NBCS has received growing interest among the scientific and policy communities over the past few years.
The Nature-Based Climate Solutions (NBCS) Siting Tool was developed by TRCA and partners with grant funding from the Government of Canada’s Nature Smart Climate Solutions Fund.
This tool identifies strategic locations for nature-based projects that protect, restore, or enhance natural areas while considering multiple benefits and trade-offs.
LEARN MORE about the (NBCS) Siting Tool
Municipal Green Infrastructure Quantification and Valuation
TRCA supports municipalities by developing reliable methods to quantify and value ecosystem services for a variety of natural assets.
We are exploring carbon storage, water runoff reduction, improved air quality, and more.
TRCA is investigating the use of various tools and methods to map co-benefits of green infrastructure such as urban forests and natural cover.
Select the thumbnail image below to view a TRCA story map comparing urban forest, natural cover, and forest cover.
Contact
TRCA Watershed Planning and Ecosystem Science: wpes@trca.ca