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Project Topic
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Climate change will have dramatic consequences for the quantity, quality, and seasonal distribution of water. One result will be increased flash-flooding and soil erosion in urban areas. Nature-based solutions (NBS) aim to protect, sustainably manage, and enhance biodiversity and the delivery of ecosystem services (ES), while also incorporating societal needs and challenges. Water-based NBS (“aquaNBS”) are implemented in many European cities, but their role in improving the climate resilience of cities and in contributing to policy goals has not been measured. It is assumed that aquaNBS (i.e., wetlands, stormwater ponds, canals, streams) provide multiple ES and enhance local biodiversity, but knowledge of their biodiversity and its links to ES provision in cities is limited. The BiNatUr project will quantify the role of biodiversity and its linkages with ES in urban aquaNBS, with an overall aim of improve the planning, building, restoration, and management of aquaNBS. We employ a SETS (social, ecological, and technological systems) framework, a holistic approach for the study of complex and strongly interactive systems, to analyze the complex SET interactions of aquaNBS at three spatial scales in five European cities. The study sites encompas the European climatic gradient from Mediterranean to boreal regions, enabling the transfer of solutions among regions, such as current solutions in the south that may in future be suitable for the north. BiNatUr focuses on four questions: (1) How are biodiversity and ES of aquaNBS mediated by social, ecological, and technological factors, (2) How do factors vary among cities and regions?, (3) How does biodiversity influence regulating-ES provided by aquaNBS?, (4) How can urban planning effectively design, manage, and monitor biodiversity and ES of aquaNBS? The six WPs address the aims… WP1 revises the existing SETS framework in order to apply it to urban aquaNBS, based on theoretical research and expert intereviews. WP2 establishes local knowledge alliances (LKA) in order to co-produce recommendations for the planning and implementation of aquaNBS in different European countries. WP3 characterizes aquaNBS in urban landscapes using remote sensing and GIS, to determine the positive and nagative human impacts on biodiversity and ES. WP4 quantifies how hydrological processes (water sources and pathways) affect the persistance and resilience of water bodies and WP5 will characterise the biodiversity (focusing on bio-indicator taxa) of aquaNBS and adjacent terrestrial areas. The sampling strategy was developed to encompass the range of European climate but retain suitable statistical power for modelling. BiNatUr aims to support the European Biodiversity Strategy 2030 by improving conditions and stakeholder support for urban biodiversity, with a focus on water as mandated by the UN Sustainable Development Goals 6, 11, 13, and 14.
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