Assessing the Ecosystem Services of Urban Green Space Based on Vegetation Model: Nature-Based Solution Approach in Delhi, India

Urban green spaces, an important component of nature-based solutions play a significant role in maintaining urban ecosystem sustainability by offering some ecosystem services. In this study, high-resolution satellite images were used to acquire the spatial distribution of urban green space, an advanced pre-stratified random sampling method was used to collect the vegetation information of Deer Park (urban green space) located in southern part of Delhi, India and i-TREE Eco vegetation model is used to assess the vegetation structure and ecosystem services like air quality improvement, rainfall interception, carbon storage and sequestration that can be use as an important sustainable tool to mitigate climate change and air pollution in Delhi. The modelling results showed that there were 250 trees with 2.072 acres of tree cover in this area. The most common tree species are Azadirachta indica, Erythrina lysistemon and Cassia fistula and there are 21% of trees which are having diameter less than 15.2 cm. In 2024, all trees in urban green space, Deer Park, could store about 73.96 tons of carbon, sequester about 3.196 tons of gross carbon, remove 30 tonnes of air pollutants/year and avoid 1.528 thousand gallon/year of runoff and oxygen production of 8.522 tons/year. This study outlines an innovative and sustainable method to observe the advantage of urban green space in Delhi by taking the Deer Park as one of the site with various ecosystem services to better understand their roles in regulating urban environment. This nature-based solution approach could help urban planners and policymakers to adopt this urban green space structure approach in Delhi which will further help in mitigating climate change mitigation, air pollution mitigation and maximize ecosystem services provision.