Green space and habitat

One of the first public institutions to rise to the climate change challenge in the Philippines is the LLDA, which unveiled a two-wing, four-story green building in Quezon City to mark its 48th anniversary in 2014.
Reflecting the critical mandate of the LLDA to protect the country’s largest freshwater lake, the LLDA building features its own water treatment facility, material recovery facility, and a rain collection system that can hold 60,000 gallons of water. In order to be certified by the Building for Ecologically Responsive Design Excellence, several greened areas have been installed in the building: two “pocket gardens” on intermediate levels and a green roof (Bio Roof) which covers an area of 208 m2. The Bio Roof is integrated within the building’s structure. Its vegetative layer protects the waterproofing membrane from climatic extremes, which allows for the reduction in maintenance and the reduction in the size of stormwater handling facilities. [1]

Otchiva is the name of the NGO dedicated to reclaiming this Angolan Mangrove ecosystem, which has been disappearing at a frightening speed due to the rapid urbanization and huge demand for construction. A study shows that 60% of the loss of Mangroves in the Gulf of Guinea from Liberia to Angola is accredited to fuelwood exploitation for fish smoking, wood for construction, petroleum and gas exploration and exploitation activities along the coast and urban construction activities. In order to address issues of biodiversity loss and deforestation at a rapid rate, Otchiva embarked on a mangrove reforestation program, starting with 2019. The project by Otchiva is being implemented in all provinces of the coast of Angola Fernanda says. The Municipality of Lobito and the Capital of Angola in Luanda are the 2 places where the project already presents results. (2)

The creation of Nyandungu Wetland Eco-Tourism Park is part of Rwanda’s efforts to restore and conserve ecosystems while promoting social-economic development. The Rwandese capital, Kigali, experiences regular flooding during rainstorms, due to the runoff from the surrounding urbanized hills, with the stormwater concentrating at the valley bottom in former wetlands. These floods cause disruption to traffic, preventing all travel between hillside communities. In order to address stringent issues, the focus turned on the wetlands surrounding the capital of the country. One of these wetlands is the Nyandungu wetland, which has suffered a lot of land use changes over the years, including agricultural activities, pasturing, cattle farms, sand mining, and wetland reclamation. From a climate change point of view, the project aims to address problems related with flooding and sustained base-flows in rivers. From a biodiversity point of view, the project aims to enhance biodiversity conservation. The main goal is the reconstruction of the Nyandungu Wetland Eco-Park with green infrastructure and services strategies for green energy, saving and recycling water, use of local and natural materials as well as architectural designs that maximize natural lighting and ventilation. (1,4)

Climate change has become a constant topic for the administration of Israel, mainly due to the country's exposure to the effects of climate change. These include water shortages and pollution, the shrinking of the Dead Sea, waste production and disposal, air pollution and increased population density. Haifa is no stranger to these changes and the administration of the city is trying to align itself with international organisms that can help it to overcome such critical situations. The City of Haifa’s leadership strives to join the capitals of the world, share knowledge and establish operative cooperation. In December 2020 it joined the Paris Agreement, and in July 2021 signed the Urban Nature Declaration pledging a greener and more sustainable city with the 40C Cities Climate Leadership Group, an international organization of about 100 major cities worldwide. On a local level, the city initiated Haifa2030, a program that aims to prepare for global warming and to develop strategies for urban resilience. Among the actions taken into account by the municipality refers to green roofs, which the city intends to transform into an overall city program. Two demonstration roofs have been erected on municipal buildings, and additional roofs are planned. (2,3)

The city of Bishkek once had the status of one of the greenest and most pleasant cities in the Soviet Union. The situation has deteriorated from year to year, so much so that in 2009 Bishkek was ranked sixteenth in the list of the thirty dirtiest cities in the world in a study published by The Blacksmith Institute, an American NGO which discloses each year an urban environment assessment report. This is why it seems urgent to us to react and work to protect, renovate and develop the green spaces of Bishkek. The proposed project aims to protect the unique forest of Bishkek called Karagachevaïa Rocha (“grove of elms”) and to redevelop it to make it an environmental education centre. This center, which would be the first of its kind in Kyrgyzstan, would include in the same place an arboretum, a leisure area as well as an animal park in which various rare or endangered species, present in Kyrgyzstan or in the countries of Central Asia, would be kept in semi-freedom. Karagachevaya Rocha has nearly 123 hectares in total, which is the largest green space in Bishkek and one of the oldest. This adds a symbolic character to the project. (3)

The Armenia Tree Project is a national initiative founded in 1994. The project engages in involving different community members in an urban planting program, environmental education and outreach. ATP has targeted the most vulnerable communities with the most need for greenery. The focus and attention that is given to these areas help trees to grow and flourish but also creates a stronger bond between the inhabitants and the land they live on. Major greening sites are typically public parks, schools, kindergartens, cultural centers, military bases, churches, historical monuments and other significant landmarks. ATP also focused on Yerevan, the capital of Armenia which has become the "theatre" of many planting campaigns. From a climate change perspective, the project addresses issues of clean air and temperature regulation, as Armenia confronts a frequency of extreme weather events, worsening desertification and land degradation. From a biodiversity perspective, the project aims to conserve the country's rich biodiversity and to restore its ecosystems. (1,2,3)

Kibera is Nairobi's largest slum/informal settlement. Kibera houses about 250,000 people and is the biggest slum in Africa and one of the biggest in the world. The Government owns all the land in this settlement. 10% of people are shack owners and many of these people own many other shacks and let them out to tenants. The remaining 90% of residents are tenants with no rights. Most of the inhabitants confront themselves with a food crisis. The project at Kibera is a recent initiative of the National Youth Service (NYS), a government agency that promotes youth affairs through the ministry of devolution and planning. The approach is seen as a cheap and healthy solution to food insecurity and runaway unemployment in Nairobi’s slum. The project also addresses climate change as food insecurity is related to an intense period of droughts: longer periods of drought (likely a result of climate change) in sub-Saharan Africa, meant the farmers had to depend on rainfall to water their crops. From a biodiversity point of view, the project will help with the urban biodiversity restoration (1,3)

Kampala called ‘The Green town’ its capital and the most important city in Uganda. The town nearing the Lake Victoria into the South, depicts both colonial and contemporary architecture and has a population of approximately 2 million people, spread over 21 slopes. The city also has a continuous flux of human capital (caused by the effects of climate change- e.g. droughts, erratic rains) from the country's rural regions which puts a tremendous amount of pressure on the environment, through inefficient resources and unstastainable settlement patterns. As a response, the city of Kampala tried to address climate change mitigation by initiating a large tree planting project in Kampala and its outskirts. (1,2) The plan identified “proper management of urban natural assets” and the planting of 500,000 trees as ways for Kampala to become a lower carbon and more climate-resilient city. One of its desired impacts was “increased green spaces and trees in households for improved health and income”. (3)

A green wall of 73 square metres was constructed on the building of the Federación de Entidades Empresariales Privadas de Cochabamba (FEPC, the Federation of Private Business Entities of Cochabamba) (Ref. 1). The vertical ecosystem comprises over 3000 plants of 35 species and is considered the first vertical garden to have been created in Bolivia (Ref. 1). The green wall is considered to have 'beautified' the city of Cochabamba, but is also considered to "contribute... effectively to the preservation of the environment" (Ref. 2).

Park Podnikolie, with an area of about 100 hectares, is part of the water-green frame of the city and is included in the conservation zone of the historical and cultural value of the city of Mogilev [4,11]. Since olden times on the territory of Podnikol, there were up to 400 manor plots, occupied mainly by vegetable gardens. Now Podnikolie is a large park, which has become a favourite place for residents and guests of the regional centre [1]. More than 1125 tree saplings have been planted on the territory of Podnikolie to preserve the integrity of the historical ground, the historical territory [1,9,10,11]. Thus, the park is also called the "green heart" of Mogilev city. The densely planted area is officially a quiet recreation area where people "merge" with nature [1,2,6,10]. The project's goal is to improve the urban management system, promote the implementation of the principles of green urban planning, and improve citizens' quality of life through effective cooperation between local authorities and the population [2,9,10].