Like every year, the World Cities Day. For this reason, SEO/BirdLife highlights the challenges posed by urban planning and advocates the need for our cities to become more nature and that one new model of a more resilient and sustainable city.
In recent years we are experiencing an unprecedented moment in Europe: the mobilization of public resources, European financing and legislative pressure to scale up urban renewal plans is now a reality. They require the environmental organization to ensure that the administrations manage these funds correctly. The The renaturalization of our cities must be a real commitment and priority.
To get closer to these cities of the future, we need a different focus in their landscape, in their buildings, in mobility, in the economy and the social organization that governs them. We need to imagine and then plan self-sustaining cities that ensure sustainable development decent habitability for humans and biodiversity.
More nature in cities
Urban areas cover about 2% of the Earth’s surface, but as the UN has revealed, by 2030 about 60% of the population will live there. Moreover, 60% of these people will be under the age of 18. Therefore, Your voice and involvement can be decisive when it comes to envisioning the cities of the future.
So much so that this year’s United Nations motto to celebrate World Cities Day is:Young agents of climate change: Catalyzing local action for urban sustainability.
As urbanization progresses, many cities are losing their connection with nature, which has led to a decline in biodiversity and an increase in negative impacts: air pollution, as it produces almost 65% of greenhouse gases; noise or light pollution. Europe has some of the most enlightened regions in the worldwith 90% of the population living in areas affected by this light pollution.
This data, added to the fact that cities consume most of the planet’s resources, whether energy, food or materials, only convinces us that that the renaturalization of cities is an important instrument to respond to the environmental crisis we face today.
All kinds of advantages
In contrast to all the negative effects caused by the disconnection from nature, we are committed appreciate the services that nature provides to our lives. Numerous studies show how having green areas nearby and access to them benefits our physical and mental health.
El informe Green and Blue Spaces and mental health [Espacios verdes y azules y salud mental] of the World Health Organization Spending time in nature proves that (including urban and suburban areas) improves mood and mental health, ultimately keeping us away from disorders such as anxiety or depression. Additionally, it encourages physical activity, which contributes to cardiovascular health, reduced risk of obesity and better overall health.
SBN: Nature-based solutions
Under the urban renewal actions There are nature-based solutions. This concept, coined by the IUCN in 2016, was defined as “actions to sustainably protect, manage and restore natural or modified ecosystems that effectively and adaptively address social challenges while delivering benefits to human well-being and biodiversity.”
Although these solutions initially only took nature conservation into account, economic and social aspects have gradually been introduced as well. Thanks to this approach it is recognized role of nature in health and well-being of both citizens and the ecosystem itself and its contribution to sustainable growth and job creation.
Cities are particularly vulnerable places due to their characteristics and lack of natural barriers issues related to the climate crisis that we experience, such as the loss of biodiversity, the increase in temperature or the poor quality of the air we breathe every day. That is why the role that SBNs play in cities is crucial for SEO/BirdLife.
On this World Cities Day, the NGO calls on governments to base urban models on these ‘natural solutions’. Cities with good green infrastructure planned and managed will be more resilient, sustainable and equitable.
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One of the NGO’s main challenges has been the conservation of urban biodiversity for over twenty years and is currently actively involved in this various renaturalization projects in various cities.
In the city of Zaragoza the organization has a cooperation agreement with the city council, while in Santander it is with the Santander Capital Natural project highlighting the city’s urban biodiversity.
In Valencia, the NGO is a partner of the Vàlencia Renaturalization project and in Girona it is developing the GiroNat project that proposes an urban transformation that responds to the challenges and opportunities facing this Mediterranean city. In the Madrid city of Pinto he also works as a partner in the Pinto en Verde project.
This The last four projects also receive support from the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) within the framework of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR), funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU.
They all have common objectives. On the one hand they have a strategic urban greening planning which aims to improve the municipality’s green infrastructure, identify the actions necessary for its long-term maintenance and preservation and serve as an example and reference for upcoming projects in other cities.
On the other hand, they encourage real citizen participation in the implementation of the nature, through training, environmental awareness activities and volunteer work. In addition, many of these projects also develop various environmental education programs for youth centers, associations, schools and groups of all kinds.