Nature-Based Solutions Impact on Urban Environment Chemistry: Air, Soil, and Water

Abstract

Urban areas are the largest source of pollutants that directly or indirectly will end up in the air, soil, and water. It is paramount to find solutions to reduce the impact of pollution on climate change, ecosystem services, biodiversity loss, and human health. Nature-based solutions (NBS) can mitigate the effects of anthropogenic activities significantly and act as a buffer to immobilize filtrate and uptake pollutants. There is a wide range of advantages of implementing NBS to reduce air, water, and soil pollution since they increase ecosystem services supply. This is key to make cities more liveable and sustainable, especially in areas where there are the largest agglomerations of people. This chapter will review the impacts of the air, soil, and water pollution on ecosystems, biodiversity, human health, and the NBS that can be used to minimize this.