Cosmopolitan conservation: the multi-scalar contributions of urban green infrastructure to biodiversity protection [Letter]

  • Urbanization is a leading cause of biodiversity loss globally. Expanding cities alter regional ecological processes by consuming habitat and modifying biogeochemical and energetic flows. Densifying cities often lose valuable intra-urban green spaces. Despite these negative impacts, novel urban ecosystems can harbor high biodiversity and provide vital ecosystem services for urban residents. Recognizing the benefits of urban ecosystems, cities across the globe are increasingly planning for urban green infrastructure (UGI). UGI as a planning concept can transform how cities integrate biodiversity into urbanized landscapes at multiple scales and contribute to conservation goals. Full operationalization of UGI concepts can also reduce urban energy and resource demands via substituting polluting technologies by UGI, further contributing to the global conservation agenda. Realizing the potential contributions of UGI to local, regional, and global conservation goals requires addressing fourUrbanization is a leading cause of biodiversity loss globally. Expanding cities alter regional ecological processes by consuming habitat and modifying biogeochemical and energetic flows. Densifying cities often lose valuable intra-urban green spaces. Despite these negative impacts, novel urban ecosystems can harbor high biodiversity and provide vital ecosystem services for urban residents. Recognizing the benefits of urban ecosystems, cities across the globe are increasingly planning for urban green infrastructure (UGI). UGI as a planning concept can transform how cities integrate biodiversity into urbanized landscapes at multiple scales and contribute to conservation goals. Full operationalization of UGI concepts can also reduce urban energy and resource demands via substituting polluting technologies by UGI, further contributing to the global conservation agenda. Realizing the potential contributions of UGI to local, regional, and global conservation goals requires addressing four inter-dependent challenges: (1) expanding social-ecological-systems thinking to include connections between complex social, ecological, and technological systems (SETS), (2) explicitly addressing multi-level governance challenges, (3) adapting SETS approaches to understand the contextual and biocultural factors shaping relationships between UGI and other causal processes in cities that shape biodiversity, and (4) operationalizing UGI systems through robust modeling and design approaches. By transforming UGI policy and research through SETS approaches to explicitly integrate biodiversity we can support global conservation challenges while improving human wellbeing in cities and beyond.show moreshow less

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Metadaten
Author:Zbigniew Grabowski, Andrew J. Fairbairn, Leonardo H. Teixeira, Julia Micklewright, Elizaveta Fakirova, Emannuel Adeleke, Sebastian T. Meyer, Claudia Traidl-HoffmannORCiDGND, Michael Schloter, Brigitte Helmreich
URN:urn:nbn:de:bvb:384-opus4-1052987
Frontdoor URLhttps://opus.bibliothek.uni-augsburg.de/opus4/105298
ISSN:0960-3115OPAC
ISSN:1572-9710OPAC
Parent Title (English):Biodiversity and Conservation
Publisher:Springer Netherlands
Place of publication:Dordrecht
Type:Article
Language:English
Year of first Publication:2023
Publishing Institution:Universität Augsburg
Release Date:2023/06/27
Tag:Nature and Landscape Conservation; Ecology; Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Volume:32
First Page:3595
Last Page:3606
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-023-02614-x
Institutes:Medizinische Fakultät
Medizinische Fakultät / Universitätsklinikum
Medizinische Fakultät / Lehrstuhl für Frauenheilkunde
Medizinische Fakultät / Lehrstuhl für Umweltmedizin
Nachhaltigkeitsziele
Nachhaltigkeitsziele / Ziel 9 - Industrie, Innovation und Infrastruktur
Nachhaltigkeitsziele / Ziel 11 - Nachhaltige Städte und Gemeinden
Nachhaltigkeitsziele / Ziel 15 - Leben an Land
Dewey Decimal Classification:6 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften / 61 Medizin und Gesundheit / 610 Medizin und Gesundheit
Licence (German):CC-BY 4.0: Creative Commons: Namensnennung (mit Print on Demand)