Belgrade’s Urban Green Areas Current Soil State and Its Way to Sustainability

Abstract

Urban forests are important part of cities’ green infrastructure, especially in cities with great anthropogenic pressure as Belgrade is. Urban green areas enable people to connect with nature and contribute to livability in cities, but some studies reported soil pollution particularly with heavy metals. Due to that, soil samples from Avala Mt,. and Byford’s and Zvezdara Forests were collected from 15 sites and three depths (0-10 cm, 10-20 cm and 20-40 cm), making a total of 45 analyzed samples. Among all analysis, content of microelements was measured for the purposes of this research. No significant changes were observed comparing sites or depths and among all measured elements Zn was the most and Hg the least abundant. Analysis of microelements in soil showed that sustainable soil quality Ni levels are exceeded in all samples, while Cr, Cd and Co levels only in some. All of these results can be explained by forests’ age, geological origin and anthropogenic origin and influence. Even though due to Serbian Soil Quality Regulation no remediation is required for now, in the light of predicted climate change, regular monitoring and assessment should be done to display soil quality and to maintain or improve urban forests sustainability.