Cities 4 Biodiversity

The Lagos Resilience Strategy is the State’s first urban resilience strategy document and it articulates an integrated approach to addressing the shocks and stresses the city experiences or might experience. Through this strategy, Lagos is committed to building a city that is efficient, innovative and inclusive. It presents a platform for planning for and tackling acute shocks and chronic stresses, thereby enabling the city to survive, adapt and grow in spite of its multifaceted challenges.

This publication is part of a series of three papers exploring the different aspects of urban green infrastructure solutions. This first part explores Urban Green Infrastructure and Nature-Based Solutions. It also digs in the climatic threats in the Latinamerica and the Caribbean region to which Urban Green Infraestructure could contribute to solve, and present a portfolio of 21 cases studies on green infrastructure solutions in both developed and developing countries.

Cities worldwide are facing resilience challenges as climate risks interact with urbanization, loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services, poverty, and rising socioeconomic inequality. Extreme precipitation events, flooding, heatwaves, and droughts are causing economic losses, social insecurity, and affecting wellbeing. Over time, urban resilience challenges are expected to grow, driven by processes such as urbanization, land use, and climate change.

Biodiversity underpins urban ecosystem functions that are essential for human health and well-being. Understanding how biodiversity relates to human health is a developing frontier for science, policy and practice. This article describes the beneficial, as well as harmful, aspects of biodiversity to human health in urban environments. Recent research shows that contact with biodiversity of natural environments within towns and cities can be both positive and negative to human physical, mental and social health and well-being.

Cities are increasingly recognizing the role of the natural environment in shaping healthy and livable places that enhance human capital. With urban populations expected to grow by 2.4 billion people by 2050, innovative policies that protect and enhance the value of the environment are required to avoid substantial losses in natural habitat and create favorable places to live. Many city governments are now taking the lead in developing innovative policies to pursue green urban development.

This document summarises outcomes from the Commission individual expert reports delivered through its ‘Valorisation of NBS Projects’ initiative. EU research and innovation projects were scanned for results pertaining to key areas such as biodiversity, climate change mitigation and adaptation (including flooding), water quality, air quality and microclimate, sustainable communities, innovative governance and business models, and market challenges and solutions.

This report presents an ecosystem assessment covering the total land area of the EU as well as the EU marine regions. The assessment is carried out by Joint Research Centre, European Environment Agency, DG Environment, and the European Topic Centres on Biological Diversity and on Urban, Land and Soil Systems.This report constitutes a knowledge base which can support the evaluation of the 2020 biodiversity targets.