Posts Tagged ‘biodiversity’
Building Niches for Biodiversity
Posted in Research by Kate Archdeacon on August 26th, 2010
Source: Treehugger
From “Biodiversity for Low and Zero Carbon Buildings: A Technical Guide for New Build (Book Review)” by Kimberley Mok:
With major declines observed in bee, bat, bird and other critical species, it makes sense that newer built environments now being designed with zero- or low-carbon status in mind should also integrate ways to boost wildlife diversity as well. That’s the premise of Biodiversity for Low and Zero Carbon Buildings: A Technical Guide for New Build by Dr. Carol Williams.
Dr. Williams, who is associated with the UK-based Bat Conservation Trust (BCT), points out that imperfections in the craftsmanship of traditional buildings allowed certain species to find ecological niches and roosting opportunities right alongside humans. Not so with newer, ‘air-tight’ construction, hence the need to accommodate and integrate built-in habitats for now-threatened species ranging from certain bats, owls and peregrine falcons. Thus, the book is apparently the first of its kind to consciously target biodiversity enhancement in new developments, rather than retrofitting existing structures.
Unless biodiversity is considered early on in the design process, these ever more stringent demands for increased energy efficiency of buildings will lead to losses in the biodiversity that have shared our built environment for centuries. This book addresses this issue because if we do not, there will be very few, if any, future roosting opportunities for bats or nesting opportunities for birds in our buildings. Without these measures, key species will be adversely affected by new developments; not only meaning a failure to achieve truly sustainable building, but also an erosion of the quality of life we all hope to experience in our working and home environments.
With a focus on the sustainable building process and wildlife in the United Kingdom, the book is practical in its scope, providing plenty of tables and technical information on how to size and orient suitable building elements that each particular species could call home. There’s also valuable information on prefabricated wildlife-friendly components from various manufacturers, plus a chapter on living walls, roof gardens and artificial lighting. Full of clearly annotated architectural drawings, colour photos and well-organised information, this book will be an excellent reference for architects and developers in the sustainable building industry.
Original article by Kimberley Mok on Treehugger.
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Integrating biodiversity into water sensitive urban design
Posted in Research by Virginia on June 19th, 2009
Water sensitive urban design is still at an infant stage and there’s been much research into integrating biodiversity values into water sensitive urban design. A model used to increase the water sensitive design of an urban area is through the use of wetlands. Wetlands can act as storm water treatment points whereby wetland plants soak up nutrients and metals from incoming storm water and discharge cleaner storm water back into the waterway. An aspect that is often missing when building these remedial wetlands is the idea of integrating biodiversity regimes into the construction of the wetland.
Wetland projects tend to concentrate on the use of native vegetation and the attraction of wetland birds as an achievement in biodiversity conservation. Whilst that goal can hardly be undermined, nor disagreed with, it is a question to ponder whether such a goal truly reflects the notion of biodiversity conservation.
In itself, biodiversity conservation is much like the term sustainability- vague, ambiguous and lacking a precise quantifiable form of measurement. For what does it truly mean to conserve something? In terms of urban biodiversity, the precise definition of conservation becomes highly problematic in that, to what extent do we conserve the environment? Do we try and restore the environment to a pre-urban settlement environment or to an even earlier era, for example, pre-European settlement? Therefore, in order biodiversity conservation to have some meaning, a reference point must be established.
The problem with many urban sustainability projects advocating biodiversity conservation aims is that many don’t specify what sort of biodiversity conservation they are aiming for, that is, to what extent, if any, are the projects aiming to restore the environment. Using wetland remediation projects as an example, many such developments have cited biodiversity conservation as a result of implementing wetlands, however it is not clear as to what they were trying to conserve. In truth, perhaps the particularities of what was conserved is not important and it’s perhaps the overall picture of a greater presence of species within an area which should be celebrated.
However, the issue of not having a clear idea as to what type of biodiversity conservation the project is wanting to achieve is the result of having species that may not be wanted suddenly appear in the neighbourhood. An example of this is the much maligned kingdom of insects represented by the mosquitoes and associated larvae. There’s been community concern over the spread of mosquitoes in wetland areas and the risks associated with that. As a consequence of community concern, there has been initiatives by local governments to prevent them from establishing. However, mosquitoes play an integral role in both the maintenance and as a provision of food in the wetlands ecosystem. Therefore, whilst the increase in wetland birds have generally been celebrated, the overall increase in lifeforms such as insects must too be embraced if a more holistic view of biodiversity conservation is to occur.
Integration of Community Gardening and Biodiversity
Posted in Models, RDAG by Virginia on June 11th, 2009
Ecological restoration and community gardens have been begrudgingly kept separate from one another. The integration of biodiversity with community gardens has received very little attention, which is surprising seeing that they have both been important contemporary environmental initiatives.
In essence, both these initiatives are interlinked. Biodiversity concerns are due to habitat degradation because of an ever increasing land required for urban developments. Urban developments in turn forces the relocation of land that had been traditionally used for farming into increasing wilderness areas therefore exacerbating biodiversity problems.
The Alex Wilson Community Garden(AWCG) established in Toronto in 1998 sought to rectify the divergence of ecology and community gardens by attempting to consolidate the two goals into one project. In trying to achieve this, the AWCG planted exclusively native species whilst maintaining space for a community garden.
Alex WIlson Community Garden
The AWCG can be used as a model for future community gardens to demonstrate the importance and feasibility of integrating biodiversity values with community garden initiatives.