How can green roofs contribute to promoting biodiversity in urban areas? WGIN member Sempergreen developed a white paper ‘Building for biodiversity’, which answers this question and aims to raise awareness among architects, property developers, governments, and other parties involved in the construction and refurbishment of buildings.
Hot topic
Biodiversity is becoming a hot topic both in the industrial and political arena, as shown by the EU new Climate Adaptation Strategy and the European Parliament’s recent resolution on the EU biodiversity Strategy for 2030. And rightly so: biodiversity loss will have, and is already having, a devastating impact on both people and planet. Thankfully, we as humans can do something about it. Urbanisation being among the main causes of biodiversity loss across Europe, greening cities is the next logical step. Indeed, as recently recognised by the European Parliament, “green urban areas and green infrastructure can provide ecosystem services to support biodiversity and contribute to the physical and mental well-being of the population”.
WGIN, Sempergreen and biodiversity
In the new EU Climate Adaption Strategy, a novel focus is put on promoting green roofs and walls as ‘no-regret’ solutions to make urban infrastructure more climate-proof. As member of the World Green Infrastructure Network (WGIN), Sempergreen is actively advocating for increasing green infrastructure in the EU to create a more sustainable society. In addition to this white paper, Sempergreen Trade’s director Stephan Beerends was part of one of the panels of the European Green Infrastructure Day 2021, where he contributed to an illuminating discussion about biodiversity and urban development.
You can download the white paper here.
All images © Sempergreen
