CONTRIBUTION OF UNIVERSITY CAMPUSES TO CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION: ANKARA UNIVERSITY TANDOGAN CAMPUS CASE

In recent years, trees have been one of the well studied organic carbon (C) pools in urban areas. As they are recognized as important storage sites for carbon dioxide (CO2), which constitutes the primary greenhouse gas, biological C sequestration in woody plants is suggested as a potential mitigation tool for C emission reduction in cities. Despite this significant contribution of trees, they are not benefited sufficiently in developing countries due mainly to the lack of tree inventory data in urban ecosystems (streets, parks etc.) and inadequate knowledge about their potential in C mitigation. The aim of this paper is to put forward quantitatively the C sequestration and storage of a campus area, which is an important semi-public green area in Ankara's city center. Results of the study showed that in 2015 total sequestered CO2 in Ankara University's campus trees was 179,353.04 kg According to our calculations, the trees stored 1,608,132.39 kg CO2 since the establishment of the campus in 1942.