Preservation of Green Spaces in Urban Areas - Research Paper Example

Preservation of Green Spaces in Urban Areas Introduction Environmental degradation is a global concern of the current century. Humans have manipulated their natural surroundings for long to suit their unmatched socio-economic desires at the expense of the green space. Urban population has already exceeded the earlier predicted limits, yet the projection is still two folds over the next decade. The result is a comparable increase in the demand and push to provide adequate socio-economic infrastructure that would sustain the population over a long period. The provision prioritizes food security and physical infrastructure such as shelter, transport, and communication system (Amati 23). Invasion into the urban free space is inevitable; human population have resorted to finding alternative spaces for economic and social pursuit in areas otherwise meant to preserve the green spaces. In so doing, the original and intended purpose of such places lose value and meaning. Vegetation clearing on the parks, coupled with worldwide waste management ignorance is threatening to veil the aesthetic and biophysical value accorded such spaces. Such spaces, if not adequately managed and maintained would not only undermine their sustainability but also lead to loss of urban artistic image and value. Global environmental changes also attribute to such forms of negligence as prolonged or unabated loss of urban vegetation cover. There is a strong indicator that urban free space holds a significant role in the biophysical cycles that determine socio-economic, political, and social directions on a global scale. However, degradation of such free spaces may also occur naturally. For instance, the impacts of climate change and the global warming exacerbate deterioration of urban free space in terms of both quantity and quality. It would call upon collective responsibility from both the government or local authorities and members of the public to ensure restoration, management, and preservation of urban green spaces. Causes of Urban Green Space Degradation Various factors contribute to losing of urban green spaces all over the world. Most of such factors majorly revolve around and mainly emanate from anthropogenic activities such as agriculture, industrialization, and urban expansions. Soil pollution is a major vice negatively affecting the green spaces that exist all over the world especially in highly developed countries of the world. Most cities and towns exhibit heavy soil and land pollution owing to intensive industrial processes, chemical spillages, and construction activities. In America, the situation is similar since it is one of the top industrialized nations of the world. Chemical pollutants in such urban soils do not support propagation of most plants that end up naturally swept off the green areas (Amati 23). Infrastructural development that takes place frequently within the urban centers also subjects the green spaces threats of massive degradation and extinction. Continued demand for residential places, office suits and other buildings in urban centers calls for physical spaces that may not be readily available. Green spaces offer such areas since most people would tend to view them as neglected wastelands suitable for infrastructural development. Buildings, roads and other forms of infrastructural developments result to widespread loss of biodiversity in towns and cities. Usually, places where such infrastructures lay not meant for use as urban green spaces; rather, they turn to parking lots, pavements, and footpaths. Bad governance characterized by frauds, inadequate allocation of funds and local budget, poor prioritization of sustainability issues, and poor management policies. It increases the likelihood for the public to take advantage of the failure thereby resulting to misuse of the green space. Weak governance system would also mean inadequacy in laws, policies, and statutes that govern the use of, interaction with and management of the green areas. Preservation of green spaces and any aspect of the environment, usually, call for the need to have a competent, legitimate, and responsible management system. A system without which there may not be an efficient system of conservation (Nilsson 43). Humans are prone to encroaching green spaces destructively especially in the absence of effective management systems put in place. Aimless littering, ineffectively designed bench locations, and uncontrolled footpaths are among some of the encroachments that humans may subject the green spaces too. Human encroachment may be in different dimensions including infrastructure establishment, direct degradation through vegetation removal, and irresponsible actions such as littering at undefined points. However, slowly but sure, human irresponsible actions contribute dearly in the long term. Indeed, negligence and irresponsibility are the major contributing factors to degradation of urban green spaces. Negligence could be deliberate or in some cases unintentional. However, the vice contributes dearly to noticeable deteriorating state of the world’s urban green spaces. With ignorance factored in, negligence and irresponsibility could determine a complete demise of a green park in the city. Apparently, the humans make their laws in order to guide their actions. The very humans become the lawbreakers for the laws that they make to govern them. Thus, it is normal for humans to express negligence in law abiding at the expense of the natural environment. Humans are prone to taking advantage of laxity in law enforcement system thereby deliberately expressing lack of willingness to participate in the management of the green areas in cities and towns (Amati 23). Atmospheric pollution also contributes to the deterioration of green spaces in the urban centers. Acid rains formed because of air pollution with volatile acidic gases such as sulphur, ammonia, and nitrogen may affect green space vegetation cover through the leaves and roots’ death. Rationale for Urban Green Space Preservation Green space maintenance, however expensive and involving it might be, come along with numerous benefits both long-term and short-term. Such benefits not only accrue to the city and its inhabitants but also the whole nation and even the world over. The greatest beneficiary of the preservation is the natural environment and its associated interconnected ecosystems. The protection comes along with the establishment and maintenance of urban aesthetic beauty. Green spaces are beautiful locations within the urban centers that provide residents a sense of satisfaction, relief, and belonging (Nilsson 43). Recreation parks and other green spaces in towns and cities form important sites for carbon dioxide sequestration. The vegetation established therein creates natural carbon sinks that absorb and uses excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The mechanism serves to reduce the likelihood of disadvantageous effects of climate change and global warming (Mega 119). In a survey, at least 77 percent of the respondents claimed that green areas are directly opposite construction works. The intervention works simultaneously with conservation, management, and maintenance of other natural resources. For instance, the process is a prerequisite for the management and maintenance of the water cycle. The water cycle is a determinant of ecosystem services. Therefore, if well maintained, the cycle would offer a substantial basis for the provision of other ecosystem services. Urban green spaces control urban flooding and soil pollution in towns and cities. Trees and grass hold soil particles together by their roots thereby controlling water and wind erosion. The effects of pollution are numerous. They range from constraints of human health to environmental quality degradation. For instance, wind erosion results to air pollution that enhances vulnerability to skin infection, respiratory infection and the central nervous system. On the other hand, water erosion results to water pollution and loss of water quality. In this regard, preservation of green spaces in urban centers would save the nation some percentage of budget allocation that would have been usable on health and health related issues. In this regard, at least eighty percent of the respondents expressed dissatisfaction with any future constructions taking place in green parks. Preserved green spaces are rich areas of biological diversity of flora and fauna. They are areas where wide range of biological diversity may be preserved and maintained thereby providing for scientific research and learning site. Preserved biodiversity also ensures maintained provision of ecosystem services. Environmentally, preserved green spaces are important for climate change mitigation, purification of the atmospheric air and overall maintenance of environmental quality. Through water cycle management, carbon dioxide sequestration, and maintenance of biological diversity, a preserved green space in a town or a city ensures temperature control. Vegetation provides a cooling effect by their ability to absorb water molecules and release into the atmosphere through transpiration via the leaves. The vegetation also controls wind flow and regulate atmospheric humidity. As such, green spaces would establish microclimates in their places of maintenance and preservation in situ (Mega 119). Methods and Ways of Urban Green Space Preservation Before embarking on urban green space preservation, it is imperative to have an understanding of the causes of degradation and the prospective benefits that would accrue after preservation. Availability of goodwill for preservation of nature calls for planning, implementation design, and stakeholders to the preservation plan. Stakeholders to the conservation and management of such green spaces must initiate and run aggressive policy advocacy and lobbying to secure political goodwill. Advocacy and lobbying would ensure that relevant policies and legal frameworks are designed purposefully for the maintenance and management of the green areas not only in one urban center but also all other towns and cities. Support for such policies may be at a global level in which case the legal obligations formulated thereafter would be of benefit to the world green spaces. The public must have their technical and practical capacity built in regards to the preservation initiated. A way of starting capacity building is through awareness creation and sensitization programs. The public ought to understand what is exactly required of them regarding the policy under implementation. In a survey, at least 93 percent of the respondents accepted establishing community gardens. The establishments would assist in creating awareness among the public. One useful idea to implement among the public would be community policing. Community policing is a form of conservation management in which the public themselves become their keepers of the green spaces. They take up the full responsibility of taking care of the parks without a push. On its part, the government ought to make adequate fiscal and budgetary allocations for the implementation of the policies relevant to parks and other green spaces’ management. Effective management of any environmental resource requires adequately allocated financial capacity. The government and relevant authorities should be in a position to gazette and demarcate all urban green spaces; city parks, grass lawns, forested areas in town and any other vegetated areas in towns and cities. Such areas, sites, and locations should have clearly defined boundaries fenced out from other areas of human intrusions. Establishing clearly defined boundaries of green spaces would be key in reducing the effort that the government and the public would use to ensure success of the preservation efforts since encroachment would significantly reduce. The government must also use the demarcation and gazettement to control infrastructural encroachments such as roads and railway constructions. At least ninety-three percent of survey respondents accepted that green spaces could have positive impacts on the population. However, the key to the conservation of the green areas depends on the types of infrastructure laid and layout. Demarcation and gazettement of the green areas may only theoretically prevent human movements in and out of such spaces. Besides, the parks are primarily for human recreation, and the movement may not have limitation. Therefore, the proponents must invest on green infrastructures that are sustainable to the environment thereby making them long term and friendly to the economy. Footpaths, benches and other structures should be such that their locations are in specific and designed sites. Furthermore, the materials used must also be ecofriendly and sustainable to avoid degradation (Mega 119). Conclusion Urban green spaces hold numerous socio-economic and environmental values to the public whenever the public accord them appropriate treatment. The benefits range from personal to global, including aesthetic value to ecological value. Urban green spaces curb flooding and urban pollution rendering the cities conducive and attractive for inhabiting. Ecological values regulate temperature and maintain a rich biological ecosystem. Humans are at the forefront in posing such spaces to dangers of complete degradation and loss of value. As such, the green areas are delicate ecosystems located in the midst of vulnerability to human encroachment. The situation calls upon adequate intervention to ensure maintenance of their conditions. The reason is to secure continuity in the provision of their services to the public. Protection of green spaces calls for an interdisciplinary and a multi-stakeholder approach to management. Therefore, the concerned governments must consolidate satisfactory partnership for the protection process and needs. Works Cited Amati, Marco. Urban Green Belts in the Twenty-First Century. Aldershot, England: Ashgate, 2008. Internet resource. Mega, Voula. Sustainable Cities for the Third Millennium: The Odyssey of Urban Excellence. New York: Springer, 2010. Print. Nilsson, Kjell. Peri-urban Futures: Scenarios and Models for Land Use Change in Europe. Berlin: Springer, 2013. Internet resource. Read More