Cities and Countdown 2010
The year 2007 marked a milestone: it has seen the turning point at which more people live in cities than in rural areas. According to UN projections, 85% of world population growth between 2000 and 2010 will be in urban areas. Cities are therefore responsible for the well being of the majority of the world population, which is directly linked to sound biodiversity management. As urbanization is leading to an increase in their size, they also control an increasingly vast area of land. The concept of urban biodiversity is therefore becoming extremely important. As a result, cities need to take up the challenge of halting the loss of biodiversity by taking biodiversity into account in their decision making process. Here you can read more about what some of the Countdown 2010 cities are doing to contribute to halting the loss of biodiversity.
Zagreb
Zagreb is an extremely interesting case as it combines a variety of different habitat types within the city boundaries and has a large areas of green spaces and parks. The City is strongly committed to communicate biodiversity to its citizens and to work with them to ensure an effective biodiversity management.
The City of Zagreb, in partnership with a number of organizations, including ECNC, has therefore designed a community-based monitoring scheme for urban biodiversity monitoring which involves scientists, schools, NGOs and volunteers (citizens). This has resulted in an inventory of urban biodiversity on pilot areas with a special focus on the occurrence in Zagreb of species of international importance, such as species listed in the Annexes of the Bern Convention, the Habitat Directive and the Birds Directive.
In March 2007, the City of Zagreb has become one of the 21 cities around the world to participate in ICLEI’s pilot project Local Action for Biodiversity. In November 2007, the City of Zagreb signed the Countown2010 Declaration and thereby committed to take the work further and implement the full action plan. ICLEI, ECNC and Countdown 2010 are continuing to provide support to the city in its communication efforts and in the implementation of its commitments.
Budapest
The City of Budapest has been paying special attention to the protection of its natural resources for several years. In 1999, the City’s Council protected the state of its natural resources with an official declaration. In the recent areas, the number of protected areas has been increasing steadily and the city is strongly committed to the protection of its biodiversity.
In order to reiterate the previous commitments and advance in the process of halting the loss of biodiversity in its area, the City Council has signed the Countdown 2010 Declaration and has promised to increase the demonstration value of the existing protected areas, eradicate invasive or alien species and involve local NGOs in biodiversity management.
These commitments are in line with the path taken by the Ministry of Environment of Hungary which signed the Countdown 2010 Declaration in 2006 and has since been active in supporting the municipalities in their efforts to protect biodiversity.
Rome
The City of Rome has a long standing tradition in nature conservation and biodiversity management. Through its dedicated agency, Roma Natura, the city is committed to the protection of its fauna and flora, it has engaged in landscape management and it is working to increase the accessibility of protected areas through numerous activities targeting the whole population.
Countdown 2010 has worked with the City of Rome to define some extra commitments to complement the ongoing work. Rome has now committed to plant 500.000 new trees in five years within the area of the municipality. Only native woody species of the Mediterranean area will be used and public areas with a function of ecologic corridor or green areas with naturalistic importance will be given priority. This will contribute to:
- The reduction of CO2 in the urban environment
- The increase in urban biodiversity
- The improvement of the quality of the landscape and the restoration of degraded green areas
Additionally, the City of Rome, in cooperation with the Department of Physics of the Sapienza University of Rome and the Ministry for Environment, Land and Sea, commits to promote the construction of sustainable buildings and infrastructure with low environmental impact and high energy saving potential. The project will have an educational function in relation to sustainability.
