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Abstract
The purpose of this research is to review the role of urban forests and green spaces in reducing air pollution in Kabul city. The findings indicate that the air quality index (AQI) of this city reaches from 300 to 500, which is considered dangerous and unhealthy. The built-up area in the city has increased by (72.1 +) percent and the green space has decreased by (-27.1) percent, which has increased the air pollution in the city. Forest trees can be found on roads, parks, watershed farms and institutional gardens. There is only five square meters of green space for the citizens of this city. Therefore, to improve air quality, reduce greenhouse gases and improve the climate, planting urban trees and greenery is the only cheap and effective way that should be implemented in the city of Kabul.
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References
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- Kordowski K, Kuttler W. (2010). Carbon dioxide fluxes over an urban park area. Atmos Environ. 44(23) :2722–2730.
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- Qutbudin I, Shiru MS, Sharafati A et al. (2019). Seasonal drought pattern changes due to climate variability: case study in Afghanistan. Water (Switzerland) 11:1096.
- Raciti, S. M., Hutyra, L. R., and Newell, J. D. (2014) Mapping carbon storage in urban trees with multisource remote sensing data: Relationships between biomass, land use, and demographics in Boston neighborhoods. Sci. Total Environ. 500, 72–83. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.08.070.
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- UNEP (2019). Gasping for air in Kabul. In: UN-Environment Progress.
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- Waseq WM. (2020). The impact of air pollution on human health and environment with mitigation measures to reduce air pollution in Kabul Afghanistan. Int J Healthc Sci 8:1–12.
- Young, G. S., Fox, M. A., Trush, M., Kanarek, N., Glass, T. A., and Curriero, F. C. (2012). Differential exposure to hazardous air pollution in the United States: a multilevel analysis of urbanization and neighborhood socioeconomic deprivation. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health. 9, 2204–2225.
- Zhao, Q., Yang, J., Wang. (2018) Assessing the cooling benefits of tree shade by an outdoor urban physical scale model at Tempe, AZ. Urban Science. 2(1): 4. https://doi.org/10.3390/urbansci4.
- Zhuang, Q., Shao, Z., Gong, J., Li, D., Huang, X., Zhang, Y., Xu, X., Dang S. (2022). Modeling carbon storage in urban vegetation: progress, challenges, and opportunities. Int. J. Appl. Earth Obs. 114.
References
Afghan, F. R., Habib, et al. (2022). Customization of GIS for spatial and temporal analyses of Air Quality Index trends in Kabul city. Model. Earth Syst. Environ. 8, 5097–5106. https://doi.org/10.10075
Ahmadi A. S, Kajita Y. (2017). Evaluation of urban land development direction in Kabul City, Afghanistan. World Acad Sci Eng Technol Int J Urban Civ Eng. 11:152–162
Ahmadi, K., Sahak, A. S., & Sahak, A. T. (2023). Evaluation of Urban Sprawl and Land Use/Cover Variation Patterns through Remote Sensing Data: A Case Study in Kabul City, Afghanistan. Eur J of Environ and Earth Sci, 4(6), 10–20. https://doi.org/10.24018/ejgeo.2023.4.6.434
Czaja, M., Kołton, A. & Muras, P. (2020). The complex issue of urban trees-stress factor accumulation and ecological service possibilities. Forests, 11(9): 1–24. https://doi.org/10.3390.
Feyisa, G. L., Dons, K. & Meilby, H. (2014). Efficiency of parks in mitigating urban heat island effect: An example from Addis Ababa. Landscape and Urban Planning. 123: 87–95.
Graham, D. A., Vanos, J. K., Kenny, N. A. & Brown, R. D. (2016). The relationship between neighbourhood tree canopy cover and heat-related ambulance calls during extreme heat events in Toronto, Canada. Urban Forestry and Urban Greening, 20: 180–186. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufu5.
He, C., Liu, Z., Wu, J., Pan, X., Fang, Z., & Li, J., & Bryan, B. A. (2021). Future global urban water scarcity and potential solutions. Nature Communications.12(1), 1–11.
Hekmat, H.; Ahmad, T.; Singh, S.K.; Kanga, S.; Meraj, G.; Kumar, P. (2020). Land Use and Land Cover Changes in Kabul, Afghanistan Focusing on the Drivers Impacting Urban Dynamics during Five Decades 1973–Geomatics, 3, 447–464. https://doi.org/10.3390/.
Hussaini F, x Farhadi E, Hosseini A, Pourahmad A. (2022). Investigating Land Use Change in Kabul, Afghanistan. Journal of Settlements and Spatial Planning. https://doi.org/10.24193
Isaifan, R. J. & Baldauf, R. W. (2020). Estimating economic and environmental benefits of urban trees in desert regions. Frontiers in Eco and Evol. 8: 1–14. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2020.00016.
Jones, B. A. & Fleck, J. (2018). Urban trees and water use in arid climates: Insights from an integrated bioeconomic-health model. Water Economics and Policy. 4(4): 38. https://doior4.
Kanchan AKG, Goyal P, Benitez-Garcia SE et al. (2015). A review on Air Quality Indexing system. Asian J Atmos Environ.. 9:101–113. https://doi.org/10.5572/ajae.
Kordowski K, Kuttler W. (2010). Carbon dioxide fluxes over an urban park area. Atmos Environ. 44(23) :2722–2730.
Mehrad A. (2020) Causes of air pollution in Kabul and its effects on health. Indian J Ecol. 47:997–1002.
Mensah, C. A. (2014). Urban green spaces in Africa: Nature and challenges. International Journal of Ecosystem, (1): 1–11. https://doi.org/10.5923/j.ije.20140401.01
Miller, J. A., Hartz, D. A., Hedquist, B. C., & Atkinson-Palombo, C. (2006). The role of vegetation, density, and sky view factor on the microclimate of Tempe, Arizona, USA Fifth International Conference of Urban Climate, Lodz, Poland (pp. 366-369).
Nowak, D. J., Hirabayashi, S., Bodine, A., and Greenfield, E. (2014). Tree and forest effects on air quality and human health in the United States. Environ. Pollut. 193, 119–129.
Qutbudin I, Shiru MS, Sharafati A et al. (2019). Seasonal drought pattern changes due to climate variability: case study in Afghanistan. Water (Switzerland) 11:1096.
Raciti, S. M., Hutyra, L. R., and Newell, J. D. (2014) Mapping carbon storage in urban trees with multisource remote sensing data: Relationships between biomass, land use, and demographics in Boston neighborhoods. Sci. Total Environ. 500, 72–83. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.08.070.
Richter R, Ming T, Davies Ph, Liu W. (2017). Removal of non- O2 greenhouse gases by large-scale atmospheric solar photocatalysis. Prog Energy Combust Sci 60:68–96.
Solovyova TV, Nasimi MH, Tertischnikov IV. (2019) On the pollution of the atmosphere of the City of Kabul with fine dust. IOP Conf Ser Earth Environ Sci. 272:22148.
UNEP (2019). Gasping for air in Kabul. In: UN-Environment Progress.
Wafa W, Hairan MH, Waizy H. (2020). The impacts of urbanization on Kabul City’s groundwater quality. Int J Adv Sci Technol 29:10796–10809.
Waseq WM. (2020). The impact of air pollution on human health and environment with mitigation measures to reduce air pollution in Kabul Afghanistan. Int J Healthc Sci 8:1–12.
Young, G. S., Fox, M. A., Trush, M., Kanarek, N., Glass, T. A., and Curriero, F. C. (2012). Differential exposure to hazardous air pollution in the United States: a multilevel analysis of urbanization and neighborhood socioeconomic deprivation. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health. 9, 2204–2225.
Zhao, Q., Yang, J., Wang. (2018) Assessing the cooling benefits of tree shade by an outdoor urban physical scale model at Tempe, AZ. Urban Science. 2(1): 4. https://doi.org/10.3390/urbansci4.
Zhuang, Q., Shao, Z., Gong, J., Li, D., Huang, X., Zhang, Y., Xu, X., Dang S. (2022). Modeling carbon storage in urban vegetation: progress, challenges, and opportunities. Int. J. Appl. Earth Obs. 114.