NATURE-BASED SOLUTION TO COUNTER URBAN HEAT ISLAND EFFECT; A CASE OF KATHMANDU VALLEY

Abstract

Urbanization leading to the dense population on the city core has enhanced heat effect of urban spaces. UHI enhance climatic and biophysical risks which are governed by rising anthropogenic CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions and also has potential to change the intensity, temporal pattern and spatial extent of UHI. It has been revealed that temperature in Kathmandu increased by 0°C to 2°C between 2000 and 2018. With this effect and the presence of Urban Heat Island in Kathmandu Valley, a natural solution is required. These solutions involve maintaining biodiversity and enhancing human well-being while also protecting, restoring, and sustainably managing ecosystems in ways that strengthen their resilience and capacity to solve those societal concerns. The green, blue and grey infrastructure to guide the Nature Based Solution to counter UHI in Kathmandu valley helps to understands their attributes and suitable NBS which could be integrated for Kathmandu Valley. The post-positivist paradigm was used to perform the research. For this, two case study area i.e. Kuleshwor Site and Service Area to evaluate the effect of green and grey infrastructure and Harsiddhi area for old settlement and new settlement. The temperature and humidity are recorded in hourly interval to examine the urban heat island effect. These two are completely different set of sites and are not interconnected. The study shows the role of green space and material with high albedo value in cooling the urban areas.