Climate change effects on green space of the city of Vienna

Aim of the study is the analysis of expected climate change effects on the forests and agriculture of the City of Vienna. The first of three project parts assesses the possible effects of climate change on the urban and suburban green space of the city, the so-called “Green Belt”. Part II studies the consequences of these effects on the provision of societal goods and services. Part III is an international comparison of the state-of-the-art of climate change and urban forests in Central Eastern Europe. The study assumes that ecosystem changes induced by climate change as well as societal developments will require adaptations of the management of the Green Belt of the city of Vienna and contributes to the assessment of these implications. The objectives of part I of the research project are the assessment of the vulnerability of the precious Green Belt with regard to expected climate change in the region and an analysis of these effects on the societal services of the Green Belt. This work is based on climate and forest growth models. Part II of the project assesses the effects of climate change on the ability of the Green Belt to deliver the services that are demanded by society. For this purpose the actual services and uses of the green space will be assessed and scenarios for the future development of these demands of society will be developed on the basis of existing scenarios on the demographic and societal developments in the region. From the gap between the possible changes of service delivery and changing demands, implications for the management strategies for the Green Belt are derived. In Part III of the project, the state-of-knowledge on climate change scenarios, their effects on urban green space and their implications for the fulfilment of societal functions in other cities of the Central Eastern European region is reported and compared with the city of Vienna. Possible synergies for a future cooperation between the municipalities in the region will be considered. The project will be implemented by the Regional Office of the European Forest Institute for Central Eastern Europe (EFICEEC) at BOKU. The work is done in cooperation between the Department of Social and Economic Sciences and the Department of Forest and Soil Sciences.