Read More
While it is encouraging that so many communities and individuals are progressing greening projects across the country, it is also essential that systemic changes are made to truly reserve biodiversity decline and reconnect the wider public with nature. There is an urgency to the current biodiversity crisis that is yet to be fully recognised with individual projects often becoming bogged down in red tape and losing momentum over time.
It is imperative that a national urban greening strategy is developed by the government which includes national incentives and sufficient funding to make sustained, permanent changes to our urban environments. This strategy must have national coverage, be developed following public consultation, ensure no one is left behind, and provide a complete, accurate account of the climate and biodiversity crisis we face.
The long overdue citizens assembly on biodiversity should be used to consolidate, and demand these plans urgently. Evidence based actions and clear accountability departments or organisations responsible for delivering its component parts. Given that time is of the essence, we must learn from best international practice rather than ‘reinventing the wheel’. Details of what strategy must contain are provided in each of the subsequent solutions that follow.
There are numerous ‘gold standard’ examples of successful urban transformation projects both here in Ireland and overseas. One such project is the North East Inner City Strategy 2018 which will provide an excellent template for an effective, collaborative greening strategy should it meet its objectives. Hackney Borough in London is an exemplar from a socioeconomic perspective for how a forward thinking council can regenerate a low income neighbourhood with poor biodiversity into a thriving biosphere. The Paris Greening Programme is exceptionally ambitious, leading the way internationally. Barcelona and Milan are now rapidly progressing urban transformations.
Further Reading
https://energy-cities.eu/best-practice/the-paris-greening-programme/