Classifying and valuing ecosystem services for urban planning

https://www.fs.fed.us/nrs/pubs/jrnl/2015/nrs_2015_elmqvist_001.pdf

Benefits of restoring ecosystem services in urban areas

Within-city green infrastructure can offer opportunities and new contexts for people to become stewards of ecosystem services. We analyze cities as social-ecological systems, synthesize the literat ...

/pdf/reconnecting-cities-to-the-biosphere-stewardship-of-green-2ar1zyoo8z.pdf

Reconnecting Cities to the Biosphere : Stewardship of Green Infrastructure and Urban Ecosystem Services

Many ecosystem services are in decline. Local ecological knowledge and associated practice are essential to sustain and enhance ecosystem services on the ground. Here, we focus on social or collect ...

Social-ecological memory in urban gardens-Retaining the capacity for management of ecosystem services

The year 2007 marked a critical event in the world history. For the first time, more than half of the world population now lives in cities. In many developing countries, the urbanization process goes along with increasing urban poverty and polluted environment, growing food insecurity and malnutrition, especially for children, pregnant and lactating women; and increasing unemployment. Urban agriculture represents an opportunity for improving food supply, health conditions, local economy, social integration, and environmental sustainability altogether. Urban agriculture is present throughout the world in a diversity of farming systems. Urban dwellers ranging 25–30 % are involved worldwide in the agro-food sector. Urban agriculture will gain in recognition for its benefits and services because urban population and rural–urban migration are increasing. The actual scarcity of knowledge on urban agriculture has somehow hindered the relevance of this activity. Here, we review the social, cultural, technical, economic, environmental, and political factors affecting urban agriculture with examples taken in East Asia, South America, or East Africa. We discuss the definition, benefits, and limitations of urban agriculture. Food security benefit of urban agriculture is evidenced by 100–200 million urban farmers worldwide providing the city markets with fresh horticultural goods. Urban agriculture favors social improvement since the poors spend up to 85 % of their income in food purchase and most urban farmers belong to poorest populations. Sociologically urban farming favors both social inclusion and reduction of gender inequalities, as 65 % of urban farmers are women. Urban agriculture has ecological benefits by reducing the city waste, improving urban biodiversity and air quality, and overall reducing the environmental impact related to both food transport and storage. The production of horticultural goods shows the main benefits of urban agriculture. Fruit and vegetable crops give high yields, up to 50 kg m−2 year−1, a more efficient use of agricultural inputs, high added value, and rapidly perishable products that can easily substitute the rural production in the local market. Urban horticulture is the most competitive branch of urban farming due to the high cost of urban land and with the need of high water- and fertilizer-use efficiency. Traditional urban horticulture systems are classified in four types: allotment and family gardens, simplified extensive systems, shifting cultivation, and intensive systems. We describe also innovative systems including organoponics and simplified soilless cultures.

/pdf/urban-agriculture-in-the-developing-world-a-review-njqlkugdzn.pdf

Urban agriculture in the developing world: a review

Urban agriculture in Cuba has rapidly become a significant source of fresh produce for the urban and suburban populations. A large number of urban gardens in Havana and other major cities have emerged as a grassroots movement in response to the crisis brought about by the loss of trade, with the collapse of the socialist bloc in 1989. These gardens are helping to stabilize the supply of fresh produce to Cuba's urban centers. During 1996, Havana's urban farms provided the city's urban population with 8,500 tons of agricultural produce, 4 million dozens of flowers, 7.5 million eggs, and 3,650 tons of meat. This system of urban agriculture, composed of about 8,000 gardens nationwide has been developed and managed along agroecological principles, which eliminate the use of synthetic chemical pesticides and fertilizers, emphasizing diversification, recycling, and the use of local resources. This article explores the systems utilized by Cuba's urban farmers, and the impact that this movement has had on Cuban food security.

Catherine Murphy

Papers

The greening of the “barrios”: Urban agriculture for food security in Cuba