Cities of the future will have to change to preserve biodiversity

Photo by: onlyyouqj / iStock

Cities are the engines of the global economy, accounting for 80% of global GDP, but their rapid growth in recent decades has come at the expense of nature. Artificial environments are on the increase, which inevitably leads to the degradation of local ecosystems and the loss of animal and plant habitats. It is cities that are responsible for more than 75% of global carbon emissions, accelerating climate change, leading to further destruction of nature.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) and the Alexander von Humboldt Research Institute for Biological Resources presented a new report, Urban Biodiversity by 2030: Transforming Cities’ Relationship with Nature. This report presents a vision for cities of the future and the systemic changes needed to promote biodiversity, with nature at the centre of infrastructure decisions.

By 2050, 75% of the world’s population will live in cities, up from 56% today. And if we strive to live in sustainable, green and safe cities, the importance of conservation cannot be ignored. At the same time, the needs of city dwellers for housing, office buildings, public space, commercial land, transport, energy and utilities cannot be neglected.

These needs seem to be competing, but the report suggests a way to ‘reconcile’ them. To do so, all infrastructure changes must be based on nature-based solutions, or NBS. Such solutions can make use of already existing natural ecosystems in the city, negating any harm to the environment.

The difference between just conservation and NBS is that the latter involves the wise management of urban ecosystems such as wetlands, forest areas and green spaces, including the expansion of such areas as development opportunities arise. This approach has several advantages for the city itself:

• air and water are cleaner, which has a positive impact on public health;
• new jobs are created for the implementation of the NBS;
• greenhouse gases are absorbed through healthy and well-maintained green spaces;
• natural recreational areas appear, where people like to spend their time;
• in the long term, natural infrastructure has the potential to reduce the number of cars, as people will choose to cycle along cycle lanes surrounded by trees rather than cars;
• the thoughtfulness and beauty of balanced infrastructure can attract tourists and have a positive effect on the economy, and there are already examples of this.

The authors of the report see the main problem in implementing the NBS as a lack of investment. Despite the obvious benefits, cities currently invest less than 0.3% of their spending on natural infrastructure. Yet experts estimate that investment opportunities (if applied to the same major applications as today) could reach $113 billion per year in 2030. This is four times more than today, although it represents just over 1% of total projected infrastructure spending.

Cover photo: real444 / iStock