Why we should build cities that are kind to nature

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🗞️ Driving the news: Emphasizing the crucial relationship between urban and rural ecosystems, the 2023 Call to Earth Day event, themed "Our Shared Home," will underscore the potential of city environments to enhance global ecological health

🔭 The context: Despite urban zones contributing to roughly 78% of global carbon emissions and 60% of marine plastic waste, they also offer innovative eco-friendly solutions
• A key example is an initiative in Varanasi, India, where unused temple flowers, typically clogging water bodies, are repurposed into sustainable goods, demonstrating an elegant blend of cultural traditions and environmental awareness

🌎 Why it matters for the planet: Despite the environmental challenges posed by rapid urbanization such as pollution and biodiversity loss, cities themselves can offer solutions
• Initiatives like fostering urban wildlife habitats, integrating green spaces into city layouts, and promoting green architecture can facilitate sustainable cohabitation between humans and nature

⏭️ What's next: As cityscapes grow, the urgency to integrate eco-friendly strategies in urban planning escalates
• Advancing green architecture, enabling wildlife mobility, setting aside wildlife habitats, and devising innovative pollution control can all enhance urban health and ecosystem wellbeing

💬 One quote: "Keeping cities clean through imaginative pollution solutions, creating spaces for wildlife, facilitating animal movement, and constructing nature-friendly buildings can mean a healthier and more sustainable coexistence between humans and the natural world." (Nadia Leigh-Hewitson, Associate Producer at CNN International)

📈 One stat: It is predicted that 11 to 33 million hectares of natural habitat will be lost by 2100 due to urban development

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