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Target 12:
Enhance Green Spaces and Urban Planning for Human Well-Being and Biodiversity

Significantly increase the area and quality, and connectivity of, access to, and benefits from green and blue spaces in urban and densely populated areas sustainably, by mainstreaming the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, and ensure biodiversity-inclusive urban planning, enhancing native biodiversity, ecological connectivity and integrity, and improving human health and well-being and connection to nature, and contributing to inclusive and sustainable urbanization and to the provision of ecosystem functions and services.

Introduction

Access to nearby nature is of great importance for quality of life and health. However, this access can vary depending on where one lives and who one is, including socio-economic status, with differences both between cities/towns and within these areas. Several studies
Referenced in Vincenzo Giannico, Giuseppina Spano, Mario Elia, Marina D’Este, Giovanni Sanesi, Raffaele Lafortezza, Green spaces, quality of life, and citizen perception in European cities, Environmental Research, Volume 196, 2021
 show that increased proportions of trees, greenery, and flowing water in public urban spaces significantly enhance the quality of life for inhabitants through, for example, natural air purification, shelter, shade, local climate regulation, and as a home to diversity of wildlife. Well-designed urban vegetation zones along with properly managed streams, rivers, and wetlands will also be crucial for mitigating the impacts of extreme weather events and other effects of climate change.
Particularly important for biodiversity is to retain and restore natural streams and green corridors of importance for wildlife migration, which connect larger patches of nature. For example, species like sea trout, salmon, and eels require the ability to migrate up and down rivers and streams, where many river delta areas are simultaneously attractive development areas. Waterways must be kept open and, if possible, restored.
The cultural landscape of riverbanks, gardens, and meadows contain rich biodiversity when managed correctly. Often, this is obtained by allowing areas to grow freely with natural seeding and flowering, while carrying out annual care that prevents overgrowth of the landscape or the takeover by non-native species. Additionally, restored and preserved nature provides a range of other ecosystem services, such as flood mitigation, water purification, air purification, and reduced temperatures (which can counteract urban heat island effects). Preserving and restoring nature in urban areas will therefore be beneficial for both biodiversity and the people who live there.

Policy Proposals for National Implementation

  • Adopt national legislation establishing a universal right to access nearby nature, requiring municipalities to ensure that all residents have safe access and short distances to continuous hiking trails and nearby natural areas.
  • Support local food system sustainability and national food security. By minimising transportation and increasing the percentage of consumption from locally produced food and small-scale farmers we can reduce the associated carbon footprint and ecological impact.
  • Adopt national legislation protecting nature surrounding major population zones and establish fixed construction boundaries.
  • Establish national guidelines for municipal area plans to draw clear construction boundaries to create buffer zones around rivers, streams, waterways and the sea to protect these against degradation, and ensure that these boundaries are not easily disregarded.
  • Establish national guidelines for municipal area plans to protect old growth trees and urban green spaces. 
  • Require the planting of native species and diverse native flora to facilitate pollinators in publicly owned urban green spaces. When possible, include local communities in these initiatives.
  • Improve the migration possibilities for fish in all big and small waterways through prioritised measures in the water management plans, e.g. by reopening rivers and streams, restoring previously existing waterways and wetlands, and knowledge exchange focusing on urban blue spaces.
  • Ensure green spaces which support insects, amphibians and mammals. Methods include creating green corridors, maintaining existing green areas, regulating fishing, and regulating pleasure craft.
  • Revise rules and building specifications to increase urban green space on roofs, facades, courtyards and other infrastructure.
  • Support the creation and protection of socially inclusive green spaces, such as community gardens, to ensure both social benefits and environmental sustainability, these are of particular importance in dense cities.
  • Integrate environmental education in school curricula, including nature-based solutions and nature's contributions to people.
  • Take effective legislative, administrative and other measures to ensure that all children, without discrimination, are able to play and engage in recreational activities in safe, clean and healthy environments, including natural spaces, parks and playgrounds. In public planning, in rural and urban settings, children’s views should be given due weight and the creation of environments promoting their physical and mental well-being should be prioritised.

Policy Proposals for Inter­national Implementation

  • Building upon the UN universal right to a healthy and sustainable environment, support a global recognition of a universal right to easy access to nature (having nature close by), requiring national and local authorities to ensure that every inhabitant has safe and accessible access to outdoor green spaces which prioritise nature and rich biodiversity.
  • Increase awareness and implement international policies that highlight the connection between nature and improved health and well-being.
  • Provide aid to local communities in cities and informal settlements in developing countries to allow them to create green social spaces and other green spaces.
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