The Importance of Assessing Air Quality in Nature -Based Solutions with a Focus on Health and Well-Being

Abstract

Understanding the full potential of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) is crucial in facing many societal and environmental challenges. The NATURELAB project promotes NBS for health and well-being and acknowledges the relevance of air quality within this context, which aligns with existing evidenceand EC directions. Air quality is key for enhancing urban population health and protecting vulnerable participants in Nature-Based Interventions (NBI), such as those with respiratory or cardiovascular conditions. NATURELAB selected, from the proposal stage, NO 2; PM10 and PM2.5 as the air quality parameters to be assessed at some of the experimental sites where NBI will take place. Compared to the Directive 2008/50/EC, the WHO’s air quality standards for the three selected air quality parameters are more aligned with the motivation and purposes of the project.