People, nature and LIUDD
With nearly 2,000 endemic plant, bird, reptile and frog species, new zealand is a unique country and biodiversity hotspot.
LIUDD research and application has shown that biodiversity is ‘alive’ and can be protected, enhanced and experienced, even in busy urban centres. Nature doesn’t have to be available only to hardened trampers, laden down with heavy packs, grinding up remote mountain tracks.
Habitat can be protected or restored in cities and, if green space is well designed and managed, will provide for threatened and endemic biota, and allow large numbers of people to experience nature in their own back yards. Internationally, efforts are being made to recognise and harness the potential of urban environments as centres for biodiversity protection.
Ecologist Colin Meurk says there are ways to develop cities that can minimise impacts on our natural resources (plants, wildlife and services), while improving our quality of life. Natural habitats provide interconnected ecological/environmental benefits through the provision of supporting and regulating services to the wider environment (such as stormwater); social benefits such as national identity, public health, amenity, well-being and learning; and economic benefits through protecting downstream environments, providing for active recreation, enhancing property values and increasing attractiveness and consequent commercial productivity and competitiveness. Delivering these benefits are key principles of LIUDD.
There is an important distinction to be made between ‘environment’ and ‘biodiversity’, Dr Meurk said.
‘It is generally assumed that what is good for one is good for the other, but whereas reducing river or air pollution may induce recovery of indigenous fish or moths, as in celebrated European cases, in New Zealand it will often be exotic indicator species in terrestrial or wetland habitats that are most competitive and the main beneficiaries of cleaner air and water.
‘Another frequent misunderstanding is the difference between ‘biodiversity’ and ‘species richness’. Merely packing more (exotic) species into an area increases species richness but generally diminishes the number of indigenous species and therefore each place’s unique contribution to global biodiversity.’
Researchers have proposed a link between experience of nature and identification with it. Survival of biodiversity depends not only on applied ecology but also on community will. If indigenous nature becomes invisible, it is also likely to become irrelevant, as identity or support for it dwindles. So LIUDD emphasises connecting with nature (not just for direct utilitarian purposes) and raising the profile of biodiversity for its intrinsic worth and beauty. And it provides tools for its reintegration into cities and the wider cultural landscape.
Our research has identified opportunities and designs for urban plant communities and landscaping to include a greater number and diversity of indigenous species. We have developed structural solutions and plant choices for a range of niches in cities – catchment treatment trains, habitat patches, corridors and private gardens,’ Dr Meurk says. This information is attractively presented online, How to Put Nature into our Neighbourhoods, available from Manaaki Whenua Press.
This understanding has also been incorporated into a continuing education programme (available through Landcare Research) that guides planners and developers through the development process – pre-construction (design), construction, and post-construction – and describes measures that maximise biodiversity outcomes. Leadership by local government in developing models, and increased availability of suitable plant material from nurseries, will continue to help raise awareness and uptake of these concepts.
Attracting wildlife into cities is also an LIUDD goal, Dr Meurk says.
‘Generally, native fauna and plants are co-adapted so we emphasise indigenous plants in urban vegetation. Some exotic plants do provide food sources for native birdlife (red-flowering gums, proteas, berry-bearing woody plants) but many of these are also serious biosecurity risks. There is supporting work on wildlife – including birds, bats and lizards – in cities in a number of research projects. It is all a matter of balance.’
After a long period of pushing our biodiversity into a corner, our cultural landscapes are now steadily evolving towards an optimal mix of indigenous and introduced elements that ensure our economic performance while maintaining quality of life and celebrating our point of difference nationally and regionally. The LIUDD programme has contributed information, ideas and tools towards achieving that balance, but there is still more to learn and apply.