Understanding the Role of Green Infrastructure (GI) in

www.sciencetarget.com

International Journal of Environment and Sustainability [IJES] ISSN 1927-9566 Vol. 5 No. 1, pp. 35-45 (2016)

Understanding the Role of Green Infrastructure (GI) in Tackling Climate Change in Today’s World

David Idiata* Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Surrey, UK

Abstract. The physical environment is an important factor in influencing present and prospective health. The physical environment encompasses biodiversity and also the health of infrastructure. Understanding green infrastructure’s role in tackling climate change means understanding the dynamics of environment, climate change, and sustainability. This paper will address green infrastructure, which incorporates both the natural environment and engineered systems to provide clean water, conserve ecosystem values and functions, and provide a wide array of benefits to people and wildlife. Green infrastructure (GI) promotes multifunctional, connected, and green spaces and has a key role to play in delivering climate change policy objectives, tackling harmful emissions, and creating sustainable places. Science reveals that among GHGs, CO2 has the highest impact on the climate. Hence, reducing CO2 in the environment is key in mitigating climate change. In summary, vegetation (cover) might be able to play a key role in taking out more carbon dioxide than is currently modelled. The United Nations Framework on Climate Change (UNFCC) identifies two ways of tackling climate change: mitigation and adaptation. Mitigation deals with combating the causes of climate change, and one very cost effective way to do this is to grow vegetation (GI).

*Correspondence:

Keywords. green infrastructure (GI); climate change; environment; sustainability; photosynthesis; emission; CO2

[email protected]

Introduction The context of people’s lives determines their health, so blaming individuals for having poor health or crediting them for good health is inappropriate. Individuals are unlikely to be able to directly control many of the deter-minants of health, a key factor of which is their environment (WHO, 2015). Many aspects of the physical and social environment can affect people’s health, and increasing attention has focused on the implications for health behave-iours and social interactions that are created by the built environment (NCBI, 2013). According to Public Health England, the physical environment is an important determinant of health influencing the prospects of health in many ways.

Humans have extensively altered the global environment (Vitousek, Mooney, Lubchenco & Melillo, 1997 and Kattenberg et al., 1995).

According to Skwirk online Education, the Earth's biodiversity helps preserve the balance of nature on our planet. Man-made threats such as deforestation, pollution, and human settle-ment have led to many species becoming extinct all over the world. Many human activities can destroy a single species and thus break natural food chains, reducing the overall biodiversity of an ecosystem.

Environmental studies and research has shown that climate change will negatively impact infra-structure too. Infrastructure corrodes, degra-des, degenerates, or deteriorates when exposed to a corrosive environment. According to Ah-mad (2006), corrosion is a natural process, an aspect of decay of materials, and a deterioration of materials as a result of reaction with its environment. The issue of environment goes beyond just its effect on human health, affecting

36 © Idiata 2016 | Understanding the Role of Green Infrastructure

Science Target Inc. www.sciencetarget.com

also both animate things, including animals and plants, and inanimate things as well. Two phenomena are the main drivers for green infrastructure: sustainability and climate change. This paper focuses on understanding the concept of GI and the need for it, which also depends on understanding the concepts of sustainability, climate change, and their inter-action with the environment.

The Environment Environmental changes caused by humans are creating regional combinations of environ-mental conditions that, within the next 50 to 100 years, may fall outside the envelope within which many of the terrestrial plants of a region have evolved. The earth is undergoing rapid environmental changes because of human actions (Tilman and Lehman, 2001; Pimm et al., 1995; Vitousek et al., 1997; Matson et al., 1997 & Tilman, 1999).

What is environment?

The physical environment includes land, air, water, plants, and animals; buildings and other infrastructure; and all of the natural resources that provide our basic needs and opportunities for social and economic development. A clean, healthy environment is important for people's physical and emotional wellbeing. At a funda-mental level, factors such as clean air and good quality drinking water are vital for people's physical health. Other environmental factors, such as noise pollution, can cause both physical harm and psychological stress (MSD, 2003).

Infrastructure degrades and corrodes when exposed to the environment in which it is located. This process can be physical or chemi-cal in nature. The environment over time may become increasingly polluted both by natural and man-made factors. Therefore, it is impor-tant for engineers to understand the relation-ship between the material and the environment to incorporate control measures in the design (Ahmad, 2006). Worldwide, more concrete is used than any other man made material, with approximately 12 billion tonnes used annually. The corrosion of reinforcing steel in concrete and the corrosion of mass concrete are major

problems facing civil engineers today as they maintain an ageing infrastructure (Broomfield, 2007). Richardson (2002), said that at the turn of the millennium, the risk of concrete failing to perform satisfactory over its service life lies in the degree of exposure to the prevailing condi-tion (environment).

Corrosion is the deterioration of a substance or its properties as a result of an undesirable reaction with the environment (Bell, G.C.E and NACE International). The environment impacts:

- Human health

- Animals and plants

- Infrastructures

- Soil

- Water

The drivers of environmental impacts are:

- Population

- Waste generation and disposal

- Energy production and usage

- Deforestation, degradation, and spillage

- Built infrastructure

- Industrialization

- Modernization

Of all those listed above, the primary driver is population, and the others are basically sec-ondary.

Climate Change Concept The issue of corrosion is critical to infra-structure. Understanding climate change and its impact is important. It is said that all environ-ments are corrosive to some degree (Ahmad, 2006). Climate change is a large scale, long term shift in the planet's weather patterns or average temperatures (Met Office, 2015).

According to NASA, the Earth's climate has changed throughout history. The current warming trend is of particular significance because most of it is human-induced and is proceeding at a rate that is unprecedented in the past 1,300 years. There is no question that

International Journal of Environment and Sustainability, 2016, 5(1): 35-45 37


increased levels of greenhouse gases have caused the Earth to warm (IPCC, 2007; Santer, 1996; Hegerl, 1996; Ramaswamy, 2006 and Santer, 2003). Most climate scientists agree that the main cause of the current global warming trend is human expansion of the greenhouse effect (IPCC, 2007; USGCRP, 2009 and Oreskes, 2004). Certain gases released into the atmos-phere prevent heat from escaping into space, creating warming.

Figure 1: Atmospheric corrosion of Sagene

Folkebad public baths in Oslo, May 2007 (left) and after maintenance, September 2008 (right)

(source, Pugsley, 2012)

Figure 2: Deterioration of concrete (source,

LearnToSee)

The durability of infrastructure is determined largely by its deterioration over time, which is affected by the environment. Climate change may alter this environment, causing an accel-eration of deterioration processes that will affect the safety and serviceability of infra-structure all over the world (Wang, Stewart and Nguyen, 2012 & Stewart, Peng and Wang, 2012).

Figure 3: Corroded Bridge strut (source, Tata &

Howard, 2013)

Figure 4: Monture Bridge abutment failure due

to scour (source, USDA)

Sustainability Concept The issue of environment and climate change brings us to the issue of sustainability. Understanding this will help us to appreciate the need for green infrastructure.

The report of the Brundtland Commission in 1987 greatly promoted the idea of “sustainable development” or “sustainability,” issues that have become increasingly prominent across the globe, applied and discussed at a trans-national, international, national, regional and community levels (Centre for History and Economics, 2008).

According to EPA (2015), sustainability is based on a simple principle: everything that we need for our survival and well-being depends, either



directly or indirectly, on our natural environ-ment. To pursue sustainability is to create and maintain the conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony to support present and future generations.

Edwards (2010) wrote that the UK government has gone further with its objectives, stating ambitiously that “sustainable development means a better quality of life now and for generations to come …” with the aim to “… avoid using resources faster than the planet can replenish them [and to join up] economic, social, and environmental goals”. There is a general understanding and set of principles that allow useful sub-definitions to be framed within the broad embrace of sustainability.

Within these broad definitions and interpre-tations there are three recurring dimensions that provide the focus for action by different interested parties: environmental sustainability, economic sustainability, and social sustain-ability.

The idea is that the above are not isolated but inter-related and whatever positively impacts on one impacts all. Our previous discussion has already established the fact that the environ-ment affects infrastructure and we can now begin to consider the role of green infrastruc-ture in sustainability.

Green Infrastructure Green infrastructure is a term that can encompass a wide array of specific practices, and a number of definitions exist. Green infra-structure incorporates both the natural environment and engineered systems to pro-vide clean water, conserve ecosystem values and functions, and provide a wide array of benefits to people and wildlife (American Rivers, 2014). Green infrastructure – a network of healthy ecosystems protecting natural resource endowments – serves the interests of both people and nature. It involves the design and management of the quality of ecosystems including natural and semi-natural ecosystems (European Commission Environment, 2015).

Green infrastructure planning is a strategic landscape approach to open space conservation whereby local communities, landowners, and organizations work together to identify, design, and conserve the land network essential for maintenance of healthy ecological functioning (Firehock, 2010). As defined by Benedict and McMahon (2006), “Green infrastructure is a strategically planned and managed network of wilderness, parks, greenways, conservation easements, and working lands with conser-vation value that supports native species, maintains natural ecological processes, sustains air and water resources, and contributes to the health and quality of life for communities and people”.

There are several disciplines that have addressed green infrastructure including plan-ning, landscape architecture, ecology and conservation biology, forestry, and more recently, transportation. In their book “De-signing Greenways: Sustainable Landscapes for Nature and People”, Hellmund, Smith and Somers (2006) and Little (1995) provide a useful description of the field that builds upon the greenways movement

Green infrastructure addresses the spatial structure of natural and semi-natural areas but also other environmental features, which enable citizens to benefit from its multiple services. The underlying principle of Green infrastruc-ture is that the same area of land can frequently offer multiple benefits if its ecosystems are in a healthy state (European Commission, 2015). According to an EC study (Natura 2000), green infrastructure involves land planning issues and a large number of different stakeholders. Bennett (2009) defines the function of GI as the ensemble of planning approaches that maintain ecological functions at the landscape scale in combination with multi-functional land uses. Benedict et al. (2000), define green infrastruc-ture as “an interconnected network of green space that conserves natural ecosystem values and functions and provides associated benefits to human populations.”

According to NERC (2015), green infrastructure includes, but is not restricted to:

- Sustainable urban drainage systems



- Ecosystem services (use of natural capital for hazard alleviation)

- Reforestation zones

- Green bridges and green roofs

- Green urban areas

- Fish migration channels

- Floodplain restoration and flood-retention facilities as well as natural areas

- High-value farmland and forest areas, which demonstrate the advantages of nature-based solutions to purely technical ones

- Innovative planning approaches for intelli-gent, multi-purpose land use.

Advantages of GI

The impacts of climate change and extreme weather events can affect anyone, but people living in certain types of neighbourhoods have the potential for more serious harm. Neigh-bourhoods that are more built up than others are more likely to be associated with higher temperatures, especially during heat waves

(CCRA, 2012). They can also be associated with higher rates of runoff from extreme rainfall, although this is also affected by other factors such as drainage infrastructure and topographic characteristics (Houston et al., 2011). Green infrastructure is a tool to maintain the benefits and services that the ecosystems provide. Green infrastructure promotes multifunctional, con-nected green spaces and the landscape profession has a key role to play in delivering climate change policy objectives, tackling harm-ful emissions, and creating sustainable places (Landscape Institute, 2015). Landscape profession refers to people who specialize in lawn care, landscape design and installation, landscape maintenance, tree care, irrigation and water management, and interior plantscaping (NALP, 2015).

GHGs: - The contribution of each gas to the greenhouse effect is affected by the charac-teristics of that gas, its abundance, and any indirect effects it may cause. For example, the direct radiative effect of a mass of methane is about 72 times stronger than the same mass of

carbon dioxide over a 20-year time frame (IPCC report), but it is present in much smaller concentrations so that its total direct radiative effect is smaller, in part due to its shorter atmospheric lifetime. On the other hand, in addition to its direct radiative impact, methane has a large, indirect radiative effect because it contributes to ozone formation. Shindell, (2005) argues that the contribution to climate change from methane is at least double previous estimates as a result of this effect (NASA, 2007).

When ranked by their direct contribution to the greenhouse effect, the most important are:

Table 1

showing ranking of greenhouse gas contri-bution to climate change (source, Kiehl and Trenberth, 1997)

Compound

Formula

Contribution (%)

Water vapour and clouds H2O 36–72% Carbon dioxide CO2 9–26% Methane CH4 4–9% Ozone O3 3–7%

Figure 5: GHG generation (Source:

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Fourth Assessment Report, 2007)

In addition to the main greenhouse gases listed above, other greenhouse gases include sulphur



hexafluoride, hydro fluorocarbons, nitrogen trifluoride, and per fluorocarbons. (IPCC, 2007 & Prather and Hsu, 2008).

CO2 is of particular significance because of its effect on the Earth’s climate and its permanence – it is a gas that remains active in the atmos-phere for a long time. For example, of the CO2 released into the atmosphere, over 50% will take 30 years to disappear, 30% will remain for many centuries, and 20% will last for several million years (Solomon et al., 2007).

CO2 Reduction mechanism: - The important process by which GI can effectively combat climate change is in the reduction of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the major factor responsible for global warming.

The natural process to achieving this is photo-synthesis. What really is it and how can it help? This two part question is the core of this paper.

A) What is photosynthesis?

Photosynthesis comes from the Greek phōs, "light", and synthesis, "putting together" (wiki-pedia.org). The process of photosynthesis provides the main input of free energy into the biosphere and is one of four main ways in which radiation is important for plant life (Jones, 1992). According to BBC (2014), photosynthesis is the chemical change that happens in the leaves of green plants. It is the first step towards making food—not just for plants but ultimately every animal on the planet.

During this reaction, carbon dioxide and water are converted into glucose and oxygen. The reaction requires light energy, which is ab-sorbed by a green substance called chlorophyll.

Photosynthesis can be summarized by the word equation (source, RSC & Govindjee, 1999):

B) How does photosynthesis help?

Photosynthesis can help reduce global warming in two ways: (1) by using heat from the sun and (2) by using up carbon dioxide in the atmos-phere. Photosynthesis by plants and algae uses up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Carbon

dioxide is converted into sugars in a process called carbon fixation. Green plants absorb light energy using chlorophyll in their leaves. They use it to create a reaction between carbon dioxide and water to make a sugar called glucose. The glucose is used in respiration or converted into starch and stored. Oxygen is produced as a by-product.

Figure 6: showing the stages in photosynthesis

(source, RSC)

Figure 7: the process of photosynthesis

(source, en.wikipedia.org)

Findings McGrath (2014), an environment correspondent for the BBC reporting from the Global Carbon Project at CSIRO Australia, offers new insights into how the very intricacies of leaf structure and function can have a planetary scale impact. Findings suggest that vegetation might be able to take in more carbon dioxide than is currently modelled. The report continued by saying that



"having more carbon taken up by plants would slow down climate change, but there are many other processes which lay in between this work and the ultimate capacity of terrestrial ecosystems to remove carbon dioxide and store it for long enough to make a difference to atmospheric CO2 trends."

Figure 8: Leaves absorb significantly more CO2 than climate models have estimated (McGarth,

2014)

Idso et al. (1995) measured the net photo-synthetic rates of leaves in Phoenix, Arizona and found that leaves on CO2 enriched trees continued to have positive photosynthetic rates up to 54oC leaf temperature. This meant that an extra 300 ppm of CO2 to which the CO2 enriched trees were exposed allowed photosynthesis to rise by an additional 7oC.

According to carboschools (2009), 90% of the world’s photosynthesis is carried out by phytoplankton in the ocean. These organisms do indeed play a major role in removing CO2 from the atmosphere and the water body. Carvajal, M posited that we depend on plants to counteract the effects of global warming. Therefore, the solution to climate change necessarily depends on conserving as much crop land as possible.

Figure 9: Teaching block at University of Surrey

(green wall)

Figure 10: Green infrastructure layout in part

of the University of Surrey

Figure 11: View between the Lecture Theatre,

BB Block, and the Library at University of Surrey



Figure 12: Front of the Senate House University

of Surrey

Figure 13: Artificial lake and fountain near

Senate House University of Surrey

Therefore, anything that either enhances photosynthesis or enables it to proceed under

conditions that would normally inhibit it will ultimately lead to the removal of more CO2 from the atmosphere and a slowing of the rate of rise of the air's CO2 content. CO2 intake by plants varies directly with temperature. The rate is higher in the mornings and peaks then declines possibly to zero (CO2 science, 2015).

Conclusion The United Nations Framework on Climate Change (UNFCC) suggested two ways of com-bating climate change, namely mitigation and adaptation. It is my opinion that adaptation will take more money and time to achieve and that we have the best option to engage the problem headlong by increasing the plant and vegetation cover and designing and redesigning our eco-systems to increase the area as seen in the photos presented here. Financially it is more economical, it enhances aesthetics and recre-ation, and it improves health.

Green infrastructure can include gardens, green walls and roofs, trees, shrubs and hedges throughout parks, allotments, ponds, wood-lands, fields, lakes, canals, and rivers. Together they provide “an interconnected network of green space that conserves natural ecosystem values and functions and provides associated benefits to human populations” (Benedict and McMahon, 2001).

References Ahmad, Z (2006), Principles of Corrosion

Engineering and Corrosion control. Butter-worth-Heinemann/IChemE Series, Great Britian

American Rivers (2014), What is Green Infra-structure? Available at: www.america rivers.org Accessed: 19 September 2015.

BBC (2014), GCSE Bitesize: Science. www.bbc. co.ok

Benedict, M.A and McMahon, E.T (2001), page 5 Green Infrastructure: Smart Conservation for the 21st Century. The Conservation Fund.

Sprawlwatch Clearinghouse Mono-graph Series

Benedict, M.A. and McMahon, E.T (2002), Green Infrastructure: Smart Conservation for the 21st Century. The Conservation Fund

Broomfield, J.P (2007), Corrosion of Steel in concrete: Understanding, investigation and repair, 2nd Edition, Taylor and Francis Group, London-New York

Carboschools (2009), Uptake of Carbon Dioxide from Water by Plants. www.carboschools.org



Carvajal, M. Investigation into CO2 absorption of the most representative agricultural crops of the region of Murcia. www.lessco2.es

CCRA (2012), Climate Change Risk Assessment Summary: Built Environment

Centre for History and Economics (2008), History and Sustainability. www.histecon. magd.cam.ac.uk

CO2 Science (2015), Enriching the Air with CO2 Enables Plants to Sequester Carbon at Higher Temperatures Than They Do Currently. Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change. www.co2science.org/ind ex.php

Edwards, B (2010), Extract from: Rough Guide to Sustainability: 3rd Edition, RIBA Publishing published in association with Earthscan. www.thenbs.com/index.asp

EPA (2015), Learn About Sustainability. www2. epa.gov

European Commission - Environment (2015), Green Infrastructure. www.ec.europa.eu/en vironment

European Commission Environment (2015), Background on Green Infrastructure, Avail-able at: www.ec.europa.eu Accessed: 19 September 2015

Forman, R. T. T (1995), Land Mosaics: The Eco-logy of Landscapes and Regions. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1995

Firehock, K (2010), A Short History of the Term Green Infrastructure and Selected Literature

Gabriele C. Hegerl, (1996), “Detecting Green-house-Gas-Induced Climate Change with an Optimal Fingerprint Method,” Journal of Climate, v. 9, 2281-2306

Govindjee, W.J (1999), "Chapter 2: The Basic Photosynthetic Process". In Singhal GS, Renger G, Sopory SK, Irrgang KD, Govindjee. Concepts in Photobiology: Photosynthesis and Photomorphogenesis. Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers. p. 13. ISBN 978-0792355199

Hellmund, P. C and Smith, D. S. (2006), De-signing Greenways: Sustainable Landscapes

for Nature and People. Washington, D.C., Island Press

Houston, D., Werritty, A., Bassett, D., Geddes, A., Hoolachan, A. & McMillan, M. (2011), “Pluvial (rain-related) flooding in urban areas: the invisible hazard”, Joseph Rowntree Founda-tion, York

Idso, S.B., Idso, K.E., Garcia, R.L., Kimball, B.A. and Hoober, J.K. (1995), “Effects of atmos-pheric CO2 enrichment and foliar methanol application on net photosynthesis of sour orange tree (Citrus aurantium; Rutaceae) leaves”, American Journal of Botany, 82: 26-30

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change-IPCC (2007), Fourth Assessment Report

Jones, H.G (1992), Plants and Microclimate: A Quantitative Approach to Environmental Plant Physiology. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, U.K. 428

Kattenberg, A. et al. in Climate Change (1995), The Science of Climate Change (ed. Houghton, J. T.) 285–357 (Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 1996)

Kiehl, J.T and Trenberth, K.E (1997), "Earth's annual global mean energy budget", Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 78 (2): 197–208

Landscape Institute (2015), Green Infra-structure and Climate Change. www.land scapeinstitute.org

LearnToSee. Corrosion. www.flickr.com/photos /21368303

Little, C. E (1995), Greenways for America, Baltimore, Baltimore, Johns Hopkins Uni-versity Press, 1995

Matson, P. A., Parton, W. J., Power, A. G. & Swift, M. J. (1997), Science, 277, 504–509

McGrath, M (2014), “Climate change: Models 'underplay plant CO2 absorption”, Science & Environment. www.bbc.co.uk

Met Office (2015), What is Climate change? www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate-guide/climat e-change



MSD-Ministry of Social Development (2003), Social Report. Physical Environment. www. socialreport.msd.gov.nz

Natura (2000), preparatory actions, Lot 3. Towards a green infrastructure for Europe, Developing new concepts for integration of Natura 2000 network into a broader countryside. EC study ENV.B.2/SER/2007 /0076 www.green-infrastructure-europe. org

NACE International. www.nace.org/home.aspx

National Association of Landscape Professionals – NALP (2015), About the National Asso-ciation of Landscape Professionals. www.lan dscapeprofessionals.org/nalp/about/about.aspx

NASA (2007), "Methane's Impacts on Climate Change May Be Twice Previous Estimates". Nasa.gov. 30 November 2007. Retrieved 2010-10-16

NERC (2015), Green Infrastructure Innovation Projects call. www.nerc.ac.uk

NCBI (2013), U.S. Health in International Perspective: Shorter Lives, Poorer Health. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Oreskes, N (2004), "The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change" Science, 3 December 2004: Vol. 306 no. 5702 p. 1686 DOI: 10.1126/science.1103618

Pimm, S. L., Russell, G. J., Gittleman, J. L. & Brooks, T. M. (1995), Science, 269, 347– 350

Prather, M.J and Hsu, J (2008), "NF3, the greenhouse gas missing from Kyoto". Geo-physical Research Letters, 35 (12): L12810. Bibcode: 2008GeoRL.3512810P. doi:10.10 29/2008GL034542

Public Health England. Physical Environment. www.gov.uk/phe

Pugsley, B (2012), Climate Change, Air Pollution and Corrosion of Buildings. www.pollution freecities.blogspot.co.uk

Ramaswamy, V. et al., (2006), “Anthropogenic and Natural Influences in the Evolution of Lower Stratospheric Cooling,” Science, 311 (24 February 2006), 1138-1141

Richardson, M.G (2002), Fundamentals of durable reinforced concrete. Taylor and Francis Group, London-New York

RSC. Chemistry for biologist: Photosynthesis. www.rsc.org/education/teacher

Santer, B.D. et al., (1996), “A search for human influences on the thermal structure of the atmosphere,” Nature, vol 382, 39-46

Santer, B.D. et al., (2003), “Contributions of Anthropogenic and Natural Forcing to Recent Tropopause Height Changes,” Science, vol. 301, 479-483.

Shindell, D. T. (2005), "An emissions-based view of climate forcing by methane and tropo-spheric ozone". Geophysical Research Letters 32 (4): L04803. Bibcode: 2005GeoRL. 3204803S. doi:10.1029/2004GL021 900

Skwirk online Education. Biodiversity. www.sk wirk.com

Solomon, S., D. Qin, M. Manning, R.B. Alley, T. Berntsen, N.L. Bindoff, Z. Chen, A. Chidthaisong, J.M. Gregory, G.C. Hegerl, M. Heimann, B. Hewitson, B.J. Hoskins, F. Joos, J. Jouzel, V. Kattsov, U. Lohmann, T. Matsuno, M. Molina, N. Nicholls, J. Overpeck, G. Raga, V. Ramaswamy, J. Ren, M. Rusticucci, R. Somerville, T.F. Stocker, P. Whetton, R.A. Wood y D. Wratt. (2007), Technical Summary. In: Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge y New York: Solomon, S., D. Qin, M. Manning, Z. Chen, M. Marquis, K.B. Averyt, M. Tignor y H.L. Miller ed. Pp, 25

Stewart, M.G; Peng, L and Wang, X (2012), Impact of climate change on corrosion and damage risks to concrete infrastructure. 37th Conference on Our World in Concrete & Structures 29-31 August, Singapore

Tata & Howard (2013), Infrastructure Week 2015: Saving Our Nation’s Water Infra-structure. www.tatandhoward.com

Tilman, D. (1999), Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 96, 5995–6000



Tilman, D and Lehman, C (2001), Human-caused environmental change: Impacts on plant diversity and evolution. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. Vol. 98 No. 10

United States Global Change Research Program-USGCRP (2009), "Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States," Cambridge University Press

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Bridge Scour Evaluation: Screening, Analysis, & Countermeasures. www.fs.fed.us/eng/pubs/ html/98771207/98771207.html

Vitousek, P. M., Mooney, H. A., Lubchenco, J. & Melillo, J. M. (1997), Human domination of Earth's ecosystems. Science 277, 494–499 (1997). | Article | PubMed | ISI | ChemPort |

Vitousek, P. M., Mooney, H. A., Lubchenco, J. & Melillo, J. M. (1997), Science, 277, 494– 499

Wang, X; Stewart, M.G and Nguyen, M (2012), Impact of climate change on corrosion and damage to concrete infrastructure in Australia. Climatic Change 110:941– 957

WHO (2015), Health Impact Assessment (HIA). www.who.int

Documents

Understanding the Role of Green Infrastructure (GI) in