Raise public awareness

"The Lez is a small Mediterranean river 28.5 km long, born from a karstic exurgence whose supply zone extends north of the source, over more than 150 km2. The “Le Lez” site was proposed in February 2001 because of the presence of several species and natural habitats protected at European level. The designated part concerns the upstream course of the Lez river, its riparian forest and associated agricultural environments. Covering an area of ​​144 hectares, the area stretches over 14 km from the Lez sources in Saint-Clément-de-Rivière to the Concorde bridge, in the town of Montpellier" (Ref. 4). Strong economic and demographic development near Le Lez implies urban pressure on peripheral sectors, particularly north of Montpellier where many residential areas are developing. The river became protected thanks to the "Natura 2000 European network" which aims to reconcile human activities and the conservation of biodiversity on the basis of the main principles of sustainable development (Ref. 4).

"Micro-flowering are participative urban gardening projects that allow the vegetation of streets by small plantations of annuals and perennials, vegetable and ornamental, in the municipal public space. Generally, it is a matter of developing a mineral surface on the municipal surface of the city by planting pockets. These are then maintained by the inhabitants who requested micro-flowering. Micro-flowering is a place of sharing and conviviality that allows the inhabitants to be actors of their neighborhood" (Ref. 1). In 2018, formalized 'greening permits' were launched. In this system, micro-flowering permits are requested by residents and "The municipal agents come to drill the concrete of the sidewalks and the City provides the plants" (Ref. 9 and 11).

Sweden's second largest population of the acutely threatened Green Spotted Toad ("Bufotes viridis") populates in the Northern harbour (Norra hamnen) in Malmö. In 2014 when inventories were carried out, it was shown that four water areas were used for reproduction. Despite a major exploitation interest, city administrations and landowners, together with the County Administrative Board (Länsstyrelsen Skåne), agreed to protect the population and to take measures to maintain its status (ref. 1, 2). A 15.5 hectare area had been protected until further notice from continued land changes and other disturbing activities, and the area had been fenced (ref. 1).

The rooftop garden of Nádor 15 was implemented as part of the sustainable campus development strategy of the Central European University. It contains a community garden that is managed by the CEU community, intensive green roofs and green walls as well. The rooftop garden also collects water for it's automatic irrigation system and supports biodiversity with bat shelters, bee hotels and birdhouses. (Reference 1)

In 2014, the Bielefeld Botanical Garden was expanded with a 2,700 land, previously owned by the local municipality. The extension area and the “old” part of the Botanical Garden were visually and functionally separated by the dense, sometimes gloomy woody vegetation of the "new" area where the watercourse and the small reservoirs were barely noticeable. The aim of the redevelopment is to integrate the entire extension area into the old botanical garden using pathways between the old and the new areas of the botanical garden, the improvements of water body and vegetation areas. The redevelopment also includes the renovation of buildings in the "old" area of the botanical garden, the installation of new recreation facilities and the building of a pharmacy garden. The planning and implementation process is lead by the Friends of the Botanical Garden Bielefeld Association (Verein Freunde DesBotanischen Gartens Bielefeld e.V) in close cooperation with the Environmental Agency of the local municipality (1,2, 7,10,11)

The Green and Blue Network in France is a national policy which "aims to restore ecological continuity in order to promote the migration of species and the resilience of ecosystems to face habitat threats and climate change. It also aims to strengthen the place of nature in the city and public awareness." In Montpellier, implementation of "this project has improved knowledge of the city's natural heritage and enhanced ecological continuity, as well as protecting, and sustainably managing high-potential sites and integrating the social dimension, raising public awareness, the observation of nature"(Ref. 2).

El Paseo de Canalejas is "an alley of trees inside the city tracing a central green corridor which exhibits its old ficus whose shades provide a pleasant refuge to the visitors during the hottest days of the year. Those ficus trees are considered as natural heritage." (Ref. 1). "In order to protect the Monumental Arboreal Heritage, Alicante City Council has worked on the elaboration of a Catalog of Unique and Monumental Trees of Local Interest that reflects the inventory of this heritage and provides these specimens with protective measures" (Ref. 3).

The Botanical Park is originally a garden which went through a modernization and rearrangement process in 2008. The park covers an area of 8.41 hectares and has a varied flora which is of Romania and also of various areas of the world which have a similar climate to the country. The purpose of the rearrangement was to maintain the area for scientific endeavours and to educate the public with respect to the importance of the environment. The municipality added this area to the 13th existing parks of Timisoara, which are part of the green belt of the city. (1)

BTC, a private company that has three shopping centres in Slovenia - one in Ljubljana - has engaged in supporting Carnolian Honey bees in Ljubljana through the "Let's help the bee in the city" project. As part of this, the company has placed beehives at the BTC shopping mall, primary school and distributed plants for people around Ljubljana to put on their balconies to support urban bees. In 2014, an urban apiary with four bee families was set up on the meadow behind the Atlantis waterfront, drawing attention to the importance of preserving Carniolan lavender and bees for the environment. They also take care of young people who are enthusiastic about urban beekeeping with the project. With the competition "Bee-friendly school", a nice teaching apiary was set up for primary school children in the area of ​​the Medvode primary school. One of the urban beehives can also be visited by prior arrangement for organized groups. The project is still ongoing encouraging citizens to plant their balconies and window boxes with honey plants and by doing so provide the city bees with sufficient forage. (1, 2 and 6)

Opened in 1987, Lo Morant Park is located in the northern part of the city of Alicante. Its flat surface of 12 hectares is ideal for walking among its vegetated spaces and for the development of multiple activities focused on the neighborhood (Ref. 1). An educational environmental tour of the park is in place for learning and discovering the fauna and flora. The park offers different social activities and facilities (sports facilities, leisure). (Ref. 1). It is the largest park in Alicante with a dimension of twelve hectares, and has a great diversity of plant species and sports and cultural spaces. (Ref. 3)