A Global Geospatial Ecosystem Services Estimate of Urban Agriculture
Nicholas Clinton, Michelle Stuhlmacher, Albie Miles, Nazli Uludere Aragon, Melissa Wagner, Matei Georgescu, Chris Herwig, Peng Gong
Earth s Future
Urban Farm DB summary
This study developed a quantitative framework to assess global aggregate ecosystem services from urban agriculture (UA) using global datasets in Google Earth Engine. Existing urban vegetation provides an estimated $33 billion annually in ecosystem services. An intensive UA adoption scenario projects potential annual food production of 100–180 million tonnes, energy savings of 14–15 billion kilowatt hours, nitrogen sequestration of 100,000–170,000 tonnes, and avoided storm water runoff of 45–57 billion cubic meters. Under this intensive scenario, the value of ecosystem services could reach $80–160 billion annually, with significant country-to-country variability.