Page 41 - Çevre Şehir İklim İngilizce - Sayı 2

Çiğdem Coşkun Hepcan

water resources by benefitting from the functions of “natural infrastructure”
related to water (Ozment et al., 2015). Additionally, ecosystems are the
insurance for fresh water. The organisms within the soil and water as well
as the vegetation in and around the water enable water to be filtered. No
other filtering system have the same functions as natural purification systems,
and they cannot produce water with the same quality as natural resources.
Nature-based solutions are important means of maintaining water cycle and
providing healthy water ecosystems.
Preserving water in the watershed (basin) through nature-based solutions will
prevent water pollution and mitigate water scarcity caused by droughts due to
climate change (Naumann, et al, 2014). As part of the watershed management
approach applied in the State of New York, nature-based approaches towards
preserving water resources within their watershed, preventing their pollution,
and restoring these resources are yield successful results.
Flooding is part of the natural processes of river ecosystems and ecosystems
play a key role in water management with their function of preventing flood
and flooding as well as preserving water flow in dry seasons. Wetlands prevent
overloading and overflowing of rivers by controlling water flow. In rainy
seasons, like a sponge, they capture the excess water that is not absorbed by
the soil, store it and slowly and regularly release it to the environment (Feyen
et al, 2020).
In addition, land and water ecosystems, capable of linking carbon dioxide
in the atmosphere to the soil, are important carbon sink areas on earth.
Carbon is stored in vegetation and soil in terrestrial ecosystems and in ocean,
sediments, and sea grasses in aquatic ecosystems. Plants capture the carbon
in the atmosphere through photo-synthesis store it in their wood texture.
Destroying forests, wetlands, marine and coastal ecosystems result in the
release of the stored carbon back to the atmosphere. Restoring ecosystems
is a rapid and economical solution to re-establishment of biodiversity, carbon
capture and storage.
In order to keep global warming below 2°C, emissions need to be mitigated
by 37% by 2030. Improving land management through preserving forest, soil,
wetland, turf and water meadow ecosystems will contribute to this mitigation
goal (Griscom et al, 2017).
Nature exposes all materials to capture, storage, filtering, disintegration
and transformation processes. Ecosystems also contribute to the improvement
of air quality as well as preservation of soil ecosystems and living things in
the soil through capturing materials in the form of gas and particles in the
air. They also enrich the soil in terms of organic matter, and increase water
capture capacity.

27 Journal of Environment, Urbanization and Climate