Even Small Urban Green Spaces Boost Biodiversity

Urban greening is typically defined as the introduction or enhancement of vegetation in city settings and includes a wide range of initiatives, including (but not limited to) the development of large public parks,  creation of community gardens, rooftop green spaces, and vertical gardens on building facades. In this article, Chrissy Sexton reports that a new study in Australia shows that even small urban greening projects can have  real positive impacts on local biodiversity. 

The study involved greening a 195-square-meter (2,099 square-foot) plot in Melbourne, surrounded by streets and buildings. The researchers measured the baseline insect numbers before planting twelve indigenous plant species. After three years, they found that increasing the diversity of native plants in the space led to more than seven times as many insect species. These findings bolster the increasingly recognized idea that integrating nature into urban environments and restoring urban degraded lands into parks and open space is not only good for human residents, but also plays a critical role in enhancing biodiversity and combating the repercussions of climate change.