TREES IN CASCAIS: Study on the quantification of ecosystem services provided by the urban trees in the municipality of Cascais; revision of the regulations and support for the criteria and decisions on their management

Urban trees are an inseparable part of the quality of urban life with positive impacts by improving air quality, reducing temperature, increasing humidity, promoting biodiversity and enhancing heritage and landscape, among others. More than just botanical specimens, trees, as a whole, represent fundamental pieces of the green infrastructure, providing a set of beneficial services to those who enjoy the city, residents and visitors, benefits that need to be measured and quantified. Urban forests are the target of a growing scrutiny by the citizens, so that, for the full exercise of this citizenship, it is essential to provide the general public with tools and information to get to know its status.

The project ÁRVORES NA LINHA aims to:

i.    support the revision of the TREE MANAGEMENT POLICIES AND GUIDELINES for green spaces in the Municipality of Cascais, taking into account the management and promotion of green areas in the municipality, complementing that with information that allows it to act according to criteria in line with the most modern techniques of Urban Silviculture and Arboriculture; these guidelines should contain the decision-making criteria at the different levels of management of the city's green spaces, and of trees in particular, clarifying the decision flowchart.

ii.    quantify the ecosystem services provided by trees in the municipality of Cascais, in particular the influence of trees in the mitigation of heat waves and air quality, based on quantification parameters of trees collected in the field. This quantification will be based on the i-Tree application, which is a tool package software created by the USDA Forest Service, which provide tools to analyze and evaluate the forest, both in urban and rural context, and its ecological and economic benefits.