There are several problems that are being monitored in [[Eindhoven]]. In this chapter we will focus on the nature and climate based causes and effects that are causing problems in Eindhoven and their impacts.
Causes
Population Growth
Due to the growing urban population, there are several environmental consequences. The growing urban population is causing an increase in air temperature, CO2 and other air pollutant emissions. This has lead to a decrease in stored carbon and is threatening ecosystems and mankind. Because of the higher temperatures, there is an increase in air pollution due to an increase in ozone formation and as energy demands for cooling increase. {Impacts of nature-based solutions on the urban atmospheric environment: a case study for Eindhoven, The Netherlands}
Urban Growth
Due to urban areas expanding, natural habitat is converted into cities, which leads to a big loss of biodiversity as the number of species is globally on average 50% lower at urban sites than in intact natural habitat. However the indirect effect has an even larger impact. This is due to the increased resources consumed within the city, and the increased pollution released from cities. It is estimated that the area required to feed the world’s cities is 36 times greater than the urban area of cities. { https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/721838 } { https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-019-0436-6 }
Due to the urban growth, there is also more road traffic and construction areas, which are the main sources of particle matter in metropolitan areas. { https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/service/uba-fragen/aus-welchen-quellen-stammt-feinstaub }
Effects
Increased Air Temperature
Due to the increased population, the demand for resources also increases which leads to higher emissions of greenhouse gasses. Due to these emissions, there is a higher concentration of CO2 in the air. CO2 traps heat in the atmosphere, leading to a heightened air temperature. Heightened CO2 does improve the functions of some processes of plants, however this is limited as once the temperature rises too much the heightened CO2 can no longer compensate for the diminishing effects caused by temperature sensitive processes. Weilu Wang et al found that after an increase of 2 oC the heightened CO2 no longer compensated for the heightened temperature. {Elevated CO2 cannot compensate for japonica grain yield losses under increasing air temperature because of the decrease in spikelet density} This was based on the temperature in 2018, and the temperatures are estimated to rise between 0.1 oC and 0.3 oC each decade, and the rate is increasing. { https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/chapter/chapter-1/ }. Due to these temperatures rising, the glaciers and ice sheets are melting. The water that comes free from this as well as the thermal expansion of seawater as it warms is causing the water levels to rise. The global mean sea level has risen approximately 3.6mm per year from 2006 to 2015. This is an increase from the 1.4mm that was the average of most of the 20th century. { https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/climate-change-global-sea-level }
Increased Air Pollutant Emissions
The increased air pollutant emissions are noticeable in the increased value of O3 and NO2. Urban NO2 daily patterns are clearly influenced by traffic, with peaks in the morning and late afternoon and a decrease of concentrations during the weekend. In the winter heating processes are used a lot more often, which can explain the heightened concentrations even in places that are not or less influenced by the traffic.
NO2 is a precursor to O3, which is why there is a negative correlation between O3 and NO2. The increase in solar radiation throughout the day in combination with the presence of other precursors promote ozone formation and concentrations increase. During the night, the increase in NO2 leads to O3 consumption. This is why hotter months have higher O3 concentrations due to the longer and higher intensity solar radiation. In the weekend, the average O3 concentrations are higher than during weekdays due to the lower nitric oxide levels and VOC emissions in the morning, which builds up through photochemical reactions. { Impacts of nature-based solutions on the urban atmospheric environment: a case study for Eindhoven, The Netherlands }
Loss of Biodiversity
There are several aspects in how the loss of biodiversity impacts how ecosystems function. It reduces the efficiency by which ecological communities capture biologically essential resources. These resources are nutrients, water, light and prey. It also reduces the efficiency in which biomass is produced, as they are dependant on the production of these biologically essential resources. Due to the decrease in plant litter diversity, the decomposition and recycling of biologically essential nutrients after organisms die are also affected.
This loss of biodiversity is creating an impact on the stability of ecosystem functions. Different life forms have different responses or competitive interactions to environmental fluctuations. This can lead to asynchrony which means the ecosystem becomes unbalanced. Additionally, the number of species needed to sustain a single ecological process is lower than the number of species needed to sustain multiple processes simultaneously. So even if we were to stabilize a single process, ecosystems are multifunctional and need more biodiversity to maintain that.
{ Hooper et al.57 } revealed that the impacts of species loss on primary productivity are of comparable magnitude to the impacts of other global change stressors.
Diversity increases the yield of commercial crops, the production of fodder and greater stability of fisheries yields. In diverse plant communities, plant pathogens are less prevalent. It also increases aboveground carbon storing as biomass production is enhanced. Nutrient mineralization and soil organic matter also increase with plant richness. {Biodiversity loss and its impact on humanity}
Increase in Fine Dust
Fine dust is a mixture of particles < 10 µm (0.01 mm) from various sources such as combustion processes which also produce gaseous substances in addition to particulate matter which combined with agricultural ammonia emissions contribute to secondary fine dust formation.
Fine dust is harmful to the health of people. This is because its chemical and physical properties produce oxidative stress on mitochondria, DNA and proteins. It can also cause systemic inflammatory reactions. It also has been connected with cardiovascular disease and some cancers.
Impacts
Seeing as the loss of biodiversity is in this case caused by urban growth and population growth, the reduction in biodiversity is having a direct and indirect impact. The more people there are, the more resources are needed to sustain them. However the loss of biodiversity means a decreased yield of these resources. So despite the need fo resources growing, due to the urban growth related to this need rising, the yield of these resources is declining. The remaining plants are at risk of infections due to the plant pathogens being more prelevant. This can lead to even less diversity as the remaining plants can die.
We also know that a decrease in carbon, caused by population growth, also has big, impactful effects. So by increasing the biodiversity this development can be combatted.
We know that NO2 is reducing, which is causing higher O3 concentrations during the night and due to the increase in air temperature and solar emissions, the air pollutant emissions increase. This also has an impact on the resources that are produced, as the heightened temperature mean diminishing returns of the crop yields.
If we were able to decrease the fine dust particles by 10 µg/m3, the life expectancy should increase with 6 months. { https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3382057/ }
8-2 = Population Growth, increased Air Pollution Emissions, Basic info [[Eindhoven]] for future possible case study 9-2 = Biodiversity cause (urban growth) and effect. Impacts (Analyzing cause and effect and their impacts), Air Temperature Increase 10-2 = Effects on Air temp on plants / sea levels, Fine Dust
1.1 Which city problems are being monitored in Eindhoven?
The domain of this assignment concerns city problems in Eindhoven. To see which specific problems these are and what they mean, I will do a Literature Study and Problem Analysis. This includes studying the data I have access to, what they describe and whether they relate to the context of the assignment.
1.2 What impact do these city problems make?
Part of the previously named Problem Analysis will also relate to this question, as what impact they make and how it can be made tangible is part of the assignment so defining the exact problem here is crucial. This will probably need to be combined with more Literature Study.
At the end of this we will choose a problem to continue researching which will be done using SWOT analysis or Multi Criteria Decision Making. Based on this we will make a Requirements Prioritization so we can adjust our planning accordingly.