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DURBAN—Political representatives from 21 cities around
the world have signed a declaration to protect and
redevelop urban biodiversity in their towns. Each city
committed to identifying five vital initiatives to
conserve plants, animals and natural resources and put
those plans into practice within the next 18 months.
From Africa, the Namibian town of Walvis
Bay and four South African municipalities—Cape Town,
Durban, Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni—are part of the
Local Action for Biodiversity (LAB) project, which was
kicked off in 2006 at the Sustainability World Congress
by the International council for Local Environmental
Initiatives (ICLEI).
”Cities occupy just 2 percent of the
surface area of the planet, but absorb 75 percent of the
world’s natural resources,” says Sebastian Winkler,
director of ICLEI’s Count Down 2010 project.
Each participating city will select five
projects to enhance biodiversity according to its
particular natural environment. ”The strategy and action
plans are different for each city because northern and
southern cities have very different needs,” explains
Kobie Brand, regional director of ICLEI Africa.
In Europe, for example, cities struggle
with the fact that they have little biodiversity left
and are likely to aim their projects at restoring
nature. ”But in Southern Africa, the focus is more on
protecting what we have, with the core issues being
invasive species, climate change and habitat loss due to
urban expansion,” says Brand. ”Most of the fastest
growing cities in the world are in Africa.”
The Durban municipality plans to develop
a green by- aw to protect threatened species and list
invasive plants. The City of Cape Town will focus on
conserving its lowlands.
By the end of 2009 the 21 LAB cities
will submit an assessment report to evaluate their
progress in protecting urban biodiversity, just in time
for the International Year of Biodiversity in 2010. By
then, Brand expects that LAB, currently a pilot project,
will have doubled in size. ”We hope to sign up at least
another 21 cities by next March,” she says.
Brand says the success of the LAB
project will depend on support from both politicians and
environmental activists: ”We need the political will
behind the projects to make them sustainable. It is key
for cities to realize that we can’t lose our
biodiversity base and enable proactive steps to be taken
to preserve it.
”We still need to shift toward
long-term, sustainable thinking and unlock the potential
for economic growth and job creation through
environmental initiatives,” she added.
Durban city manager Mike Sutcliffe
agrees with Brand, pointing out that developing
countries like South Africa and Namibia need to balance
the triple bottom line of economics, social issues and
biodiversity to achieve sustainable growth. Cities
struggle to find an equilibrium between attracting
industrial investment and job creation, while addressing
the population’s social needs, such as housing and
sanitation and, at the same time, making sure to
conserve the environment.
”We are often looking at short-term
profits only. It is most difficult to achieve this
balance,” admits Sutcliffe. ”Our challenge is to balance
growing industrialization with quality of life.”
Environmental issues have been
particularly neglected in South Africa. ”The environment
is still the third leg after economic and social
development in terms of importance,” says Richard Boon,
manager of biodiversity planning of the Durban
municipality. To change this, not only political buy-in
is needed, but also the commitment of each and every
citizen.
”We need to demonstrate the benefits [of
conservation] to the people so that we can link service
delivery to biodiversity,” he adds.
”In South Africa, economic development,
infrastructure and service delivery have been competing
directly with biodiversity,” agrees George Davis, deputy
director of the South African National Biodiversity
Institute.
For example, there has been a big push
for more housing—an important social service in a
country like South Africa, where many poor families live
in shacks—but new housing projects have often been
constructed without regard for the environment.
”We need to change mindsets and start
balancing social needs with the value of our ecosystems
and species,” says Davis. |
