Biodiversity sustains human civilisation as it is intricately related to the
supply of all the ecosystem services that underscore human well-being. The
connotation ‘human well – being’ denotes amongst other things ‘security’ that entails
security to ‘resource access’ and ‘adequate livelihoods’- as basic materials for a good
life. However, the benefits of growth and development accruing from our natural
resources need to be distributed equitably amongst the ‘people’ without damaging the
‘ecological health of the planet’ to achieve the goals of the sustainable development
(2015) at the global level.
Though cities are proficient means of spatial organisation that provide shelter and
livelihood to a large number of people and have developed into foci of innovations and
economic growth they have been inept of taking care of nature due to their exhaustive
and unsustainable consumption pattern. They are intense hubs of energy and material
consumption that emanates massive wastes damaging environmental health and, in
turn, biodiversity.
The answer to this dilemma lies in the Mainstreaming Biodiversity into the city
planning and management which will balance biodiversity and development.
Mainstreaming or including biodiversity into urban planning is imperative as cities
draw numerous ecosystem services at local, regional and global scales. However, this
expression ‘mainstreaming’ warrants a clear understanding of the jargon itself and the
instruments that will enable integration of the same.
In this paper, an attempt has been made to explore the diverse instruments that are
available at the global, national, subnational and local levels for biodiversity
conservation and management and urban planning processes. The idea is to explore the
interface that exists between the instruments of the two spheres and create a
convergence between the processes of urban planning and biodiversity conservation.
Keywords: Biodiversity planning, City planning, Development planning,
Ecosystem service.
