Biodiversity for Smart Cities

Abstract

The African continent is urbanizing at a rapid rate, and projected trends suggest that over 1.3 billion people will be living in urban areas by 2050. In most African countries, this means expansion of cities and increasing pressure on municipal governments to balance urban development needs with environmental sustainability. For cities located in the continent’s biodiversity hotpots, the urban expansion will occur at the expense of biodiversity and fragile ecosystems. Because of the potential for urbanization to drive economic growth and prosperity in Africa, it is essential that cities and municipalities embrace a paradigm of urban development that is smart and sustainable, and as a result contribute toward safeguarding biodiversity. Such a paradigm will embody two key priorities to integrate biodiversity: (a) African cities must tackle threats to biodiversity from urban sprawl, including habitat loss, overexploitation of species, and degradation of ecosystem services; and (b) cities must harness ecosystem services by integrating components of biodiversity as livelihood assets and “green infrastructure” to enhance sustainability and resilience in the city-scape. Drawing on examples from across the continent, this chapter discusses these two priorities as basis for Africa’s cities to integrate biodiversity conservation in their planning processes toward smart and sustainable growth. City and municipal governments must create appropriate institutional and governance frameworks to harness available data and information, promote integrated planning and management, and apply innovative tools and citizen participation for monitoring and assessment of biodiversity and ecosystem services. The role and importance of ICT is highlighted as key to advancing a science-based approach to integrating biodiversity in smart cities, which will foster collaboration by experts across a range of disciplines such as landscape ecology, wildlife biology, animal behavior, and sociology.