Abstract
Many coastal peri-urban and urban populations in Oceania are heavily reliant on terrestrial and marine ecosystem services for subsistence and wellbeing. However, climate change and urbanisation have put significant pressure on ecosystems and compelled nations and territories in Oceania to urgently adapt. This article, with a focus on Pacific Island Oceania but some insight from Aotearoa New Zealand, reviews key literature focused on ecosystem health and human health and wellbeing in Oceania and the important potential contribution of nature-based solutions to limiting the negative impacts of climate change and urbanisation. The inextricable link between human wellbeing and provision of ecosystem services is well established. However, given the uniqueness of Oceania, rich in cultural and biological diversity and traditional ecological knowledge, these links require further examination leading potentially to a new conceptualisation of wellbeing frameworks in relation to human/nature relationships. Rapidly urbanising Oceania has a growing body of rural, peri-urban and urban nature-based solutions experience to draw from. However, important gaps in knowledge and practice remain. Pertinently, there is a need, potential—and therefore opportunity—to define an urban design agenda positioned within an urban ecosystem services framework, focused on human wellbeing and informed by traditional ecological knowledge, determined by and relevant for those living in the islands of Oceania as a means to work towards effective urban climate change adaptation.
Highlights
Climate change and urbanisation severely pressure the nations of Oceania and their cities and towns
For the Oceania context, including in urban areas, we propose a further area related to the need for culturally appropriate approaches that are driven by traditional ecological knowledge
Dushkova and Haase highlighted five categories of urban nature-based solutions (NbS) approaches that could be applied to urban design: (1) NbS that made better use of protected or natural ecosystems to increase the supply of ecosystem services; (2) NbS alongside the sustainable management of urban food systems such as urban gardens and farming; (3) NbS approaches for the creation of new ecosystems; (4) NbS approaches that lead to the creation of new ecosystems from existing abandoned, neglected or brownfield sites; and (5) NbS for education and awareness on sustainability
Summary
Climate change and urbanisation severely pressure the nations of Oceania and their cities and towns. Rapid urbanisation puts further pressures on Oceanic urban environments, including increased biodiversity decline, and increased stress on vital marine and terrestrial food sources, along with other urban ecosystem services essential for human wellbeing [1]. Combined, these forces place unique pressures on Oceania nations and their urban landscapes, and point to the urgent need for urban adaptation. The article focuses on urban environments and urban ecosystem services, the importance of traditional ecological knowledge in Oceania and nature-based approaches for urban design. We conclude by introducing our unique Oceania nature-based urban design agenda, which is centred on Indigenous ecological knowledge and wellbeing frameworks
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