Urban development and nature should go hand in hand: Expert

NEW DELHI: The greatest takeaway from the landslide in Freetown, Sierra Leone’s capital, should exemplify to cities throughout the world that they should invest in extending green spaces and nurturing natural systems, stated researchers on Monday, January 17. The landslide killed 1141 people and displaced over 3000 people in 2017.The recovery plan included educating villagers to plant 21,000 native trees to lessen the danger of future disasters on bare hillsides. Researchers said that governments should preserve the natural systems that offer water, food and clean air, not just to keep citizens healthy and combat climate change threats, but also to enhance their economy. The early 2000s nature revival effort reduced traffic, flooding, and heat sparked roughly $2 billion in urban redevelopment and attracted 64,000 people every day. 

In the midst of sporadic and abnormally heavy rainfall, as well as urban expansion, the city’s mayor has launched the “Freetown the Tree town” campaign, which aims to expand green cover by 50 per cent by the end of 2022, with residents tracking tree growth via a smartphone app. Meanwhile, in Seoul, South Korea, the city government collaborated with locals to restore the Cheonggyecheon Stream, which had been obstructed for decades by a motorway overpass. Despite the benefits of green urban upgrades, they claim in a paper produced by the ‘BiodiverCities by 2030’ initiative little money is spent on them. The World Economic Forum (WEF), the Alexander von Humboldt Biological Resources Research Institute in Bogota, and the Government of Colombian are leading the charge to green cities.

According to analysts, cities invest no more than 0.3 per cent of their infrastructure spending in so-called “nature-based solutions,” or around $28 billion in 2021. The common assumption that urban development and a healthy environment are at odds no longer holds, according to Akanksha Khatri, Head, Nature and Biodiversity, WEF. In a statement, she remarked, “Nature may be the backbone of urban development. By recognising cities as living systems, we can promote conditions in urban areas that are good for people’s health, the environment, and the economy.” According to the analysis, cities risk losing 44 per cent of their gross domestic product, or $31 trillion globally, if they fail to maintain natural ecosystems.