Why we need Urban Biodiversity

Biodiversity, the variety of life on earth, developed over millennia to form interconnected and highly varied species and landscapes that are critical to human life.

In cities, biodiversity supports human life by filtering pollutants, regulating extreme weather, and improving our health. This support is reciprocal: as children discover insects in the soil and residents cultivate plants in a garden, we are inspired by this connection with the natural world to contribute to a healthy planet.

However, biodiversity is in crisis.

Driven by extraction, industrialization, and overconsumption, its decline has been rapid and global. As a result, global cycles are out of balance, including greenhouse gases, nitrogen, phosphorus, water, and life itself (Richardson et al., 2023). This decline in biodiversity has impacted every ecosystem type on every continent. Since the 1900s, the abundance of life on earth has declined by 20% and this rate is accelerating (IPBES 2019).

Global pressures on biodiversity often stem from cities, through sprawling development, excess dumping of pollutants, division of landscapes, and overconsumption of sensitive resources. Cities have a responsibility to address these pressures by implementing strategies that equitably address development, pollution, consumption, and sustainable living (Pierce, 2022).

Pocket forests are dense, biodiverse plantings that provide critical refugia for urban biodiversity and serve as demonstration sites for successful biodiversity conservation.

They inspire city-wide actions as visitors experience these mini-ecosystems and implement learnings in their neighborhoods, creating a ripple effect of urban biodiversity enhancement.