The food-water-climate nexus of green infrastructure: Examining ecosystem services trade-offs of peri-urban agriculture
Ricard Segura, Johannes Langemeyer, Alba Badía, Sergi Ventura, Jaime Vila-Traver, Gara Villalba
The Science of The Total Environment
Urban Farm DB summary
A study in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona, Spain, investigated the impacts of peri-urban agricultural expansion on the food-water-climate nexus using urban metabolism and atmospheric-biosphere models across four land-use scenarios. While expansion increased food production and irrigation water requirements, replacing natural non-forested and forest areas for peri-urban agriculture was predicted to reduce net ecosystem productivity by up to 18.5% and total carbon stocks by 3.3%. Irrigated peri-urban agriculture potentially reduced near-surface temperatures by 0.7°C, though reductions in the densest urban areas were minimal.