Gardens in a Changing Climate
LOCATION
Whiteknights, Reading RG6 6AH
SPEAKER | Dr Eleanor Webster, Environmental Climate Scientist, Royal Horticultural Society.
ABSTRACT | Gardens can come in many forms, from a single container to a large domestic garden. They are multifunctional spaces, important for providing important ecosystem services, such as mitigating urban flooding, urban cooling, pollutant capture and carbon sequestration.
In the last decade the climate has undergone dramatic change, including more frequent and intense rainfall events in combination with rising temperatures. Despite this, there is a relentless trend to replace green space with impermeable surfaces, removing a large proportion of the terrestrial aboveground carbon store.
With populations rising and housing development set to continue into the future, the role of gardens in delivering the health and environmental ecosystem services formerly fulfilled by the natural environment will become increasingly important. With over half of UK adults engaged in gardening there is great potential for this group to help maintain biodiversity, make a major contribution to reducing carbon dioxide emissions and prepare for the growing impacts of climate change.
SPEAKER | Dr Eleanor Webster, Environmental Climate Scientist, Royal Horticultural Society.
ABSTRACT | Gardens can come in many forms, from a single container to a large domestic garden. They are multifunctional spaces, important for providing important ecosystem services, such as mitigating urban flooding, urban cooling, pollutant capture and carbon sequestration.
In the last decade the climate has undergone dramatic change, including more frequent and intense rainfall events in combination with rising temperatures. Despite this, there is a relentless trend to replace green space with impermeable surfaces, removing a large proportion of the terrestrial aboveground carbon store.
With populations rising and housing development set to continue into the future, the role of gardens in delivering the health and environmental ecosystem services formerly fulfilled by the natural environment will become increasingly important. With over half of UK adults engaged in gardening there is great potential for this group to help maintain biodiversity, make a major contribution to reducing carbon dioxide emissions and prepare for the growing impacts of climate change.