About
- Urban Biodiversity refers to the form of residing organisms (plants, animals, fungi, and microorganisms) discovered in towns and urban areas.
- It consists of all life forms in human-dominated environments, which includes parks, gardens, green roofs, wetlands, and built structures.
Key Components
- Green spaces: Parks, gardens, green belts, lawns, roadside timber.
- Blue spaces: Lakes, rivers, canals, ponds, wetlands.
- Built systems: Walls, roofs, and abandoned buildings that provide habitats (e.g., bats in attics, birds nesting on homes).
- Wildlife corridors: Paths that permit animals to move among green patches (e.g., tree-coated streets)
Prominent Examples
- Wetlands within cities, e.g., the Okhla Bird Sanctuary in Delhi, Varthur Lake in Bengaluru.
- Urban forests and biodiversity parks, e.g., the Arignar Anna Zoological Park in Chennai.
- Rivers and lakes passing through cities, supporting aquatic biodiversity (e.g., In Pune, the Mutha and Mula rivers display high biodiversity, with many freshwater invertebrate species).
Significance of Urban Biodiversity Conservation for India
- Mitigating Climate Change & Pollution: Urban green areas reduce urban heat island effect e.g., Frankfurt’s green belts lowered temperatures by 3.5°C.
- Health & Well-being Benefits: Parks and green areas provide a crucial escape from “urban jungles,” improving mental health, decreasing stress, and presenting recreational opportunities, even as also assisting essential pollinators like bees and butterflies that help secure food supply.
- Economic Benefits: Urban timber in mega cities supply ecosystem offerings valued at Rs eight crore in keeping with sq. Km annually, which includes air purification, temperature moderation, stormwater management, and aesthetic advantages.
- Global Commitments: The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) Target 12 emphasizes integrating green and blue spaces into urban planning.
Key Issues Affecting Urban Biodiversity in India
- Rising Urban Sprawl: In 2025, almost 50% of the global populace lives in urban regions, projected to reach 70% by 2050 pressurising natural green spaces.
- Heat Island Effect: Concrete-dominated cities like Delhi are 4–6°C warmer than rural regions, stressing urban wildlife.
- Loss of Urban Wetlands & Water Bodies: The East Kolkata Wetlands, a Ramsar site, are under increasing danger from encroachment, endangering essential habitats for migratory birds such as the Northern Pintail.
- Pollution: Urban pollutants—air, water, soil, and noise—harms biodiversity by disrupting animal health, communication, and ecosystems, as seen in Delhi’s poisonous air and Bangalore’s polluted Bellandur Lake.
Measures may be Adopted to Enhance Urban Biodiversity in India
- Promoting Green Infrastructure: Promoting green infrastructure like parks, urban forests, wetlands, and green roofs boosts urban biodiversity and climate resilience.
- Development of urban Biodiversity Index: The urban Biodiversity Index, currently applied in states like Telangana and Madhya Pradesh, assesses local species, atmosphere services, and governance to assist towns create Local Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans (LBSAPs) for conservation and superior human well-being, and must be extended to all essential Indian towns in a phased way.
- Restore and Protect Urban Water Bodies: There is an urgent need to manage garbage dumping and deal with sewage pollution in urban lakes using conventional or nature based solutions, alongside legal protection to prevent similar loss of lakes and wetlands.
- Decentralized Greening: Decentralized greening empowers groups through pocket parks, gardens, and avenue bushes, boosting local biodiversity.
Integrating Biodiversity into Urban Planning: Enhancing urban biodiversity in India demands integrating biodiversity into urban planning by mandatory effect checks and urban-level action plans with green corridors and habitat connectivity.
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