Why urbanites need access to abundant wildlife

Conservationists are calling for 30 per cent of the world’s land and sea to be protected by 2030. The so-called 30×30 Initiative has gained worldwide attention, especially since it’s thought that a third of climate change problems could be also fixed by restoring nature. 

But today over half of humanity lives in cities and in Australia, it’s more than nine out of ten of us. This begs two questions: First, what is nature? And second, where do we urbanites fit into these ideas?

What is nature?

Widespread adoption of nature-based solutions for environmental problems emerged only recently. The first global standards were published at the start of the United Nation Decade on Ecosystem Restoration in 2020, which sparked ambitious and exciting efforts to reframe the way we live. 

For the first time, people are talking about us being part of nature. That’s momentous. After all, we cannot separate humans from nature, in the same way as we can’t separate ourselves from our own homes. 

Building cities for ourselves is, arguably, as natural as any bird constructing a nest or a wombat digging a burrow. 

Nature is everything. Like “sustainability” and “biodiversity” though, it can’t be precisely quantified. Instead, these are themes by which we need to learn to live better lives. 

But there is something profoundly missing. We haven’t yet realised that we can’t have the habitable ecosystems we need, unless we restore abundant wildlife. 

It turns out that ecosystems simply do not function unless wildlife is present in the right diversity, abundance and proportions. There is a division of labour needed, a hierarchy and structure, that cannot be achieved by humans alone, even with our modern technology. 

When we block, pollute or throttle parts of the food chain – from predators to insects – the pyramid crumbles. But when humans and other animals work in parallel, this stability recovers. Fast. We become part-and-parcel nature, meaning together, we animals are the embodiment of ecosystem function; the makers of habitable spaces. 

Urban conservation has to be a natural part of that. 

Urbanisation of people and wildlife 

It should come as no surprise that almost half of Australia’s endangered species live in our cities. The very places we build, to support our own lives, are good for many other animals too – and for the same reasons. 

In Melbourne, not far from the CBD, is Ricketts Point Marine Park. At the start of spring, hundreds of fishing boats flock to the park edges. Why? Because there is an abundance of fish life. Kangaroo numbers are declining Australia-wide but appear to be at plague proportions in some places. They aren’t. They flock to the last places there are abundant resources, just like fishers. Animals and people behave identically! 

So, if we want a better lifestyle where we actually live we need to restore landscapes by allowing more wildlife to flourish alongside us. 

If we want more fishing we have to set aside ample areas for fish to thrive unimpeded. If we want self-sustaining flood alleviation we need abundant birdlife to browse, condition and diversify wetland vegetation. If we want locally-sourced and cheap vegetables we need organic smallholding where soil processes are kept by natural processes and not chemicals. 

Without necessarily knowing it we have created oases that support wildlife species any of which could become a critical part of ecosystem recovery. By building wildlife-friendly cities we are building our own future. 

The greatest opportunity of our lifetime

Scientists of our generation have only ever been able to study ecosystems in decline as we have lost almost three quarters of wildlife from our lives in the last 50 years. Is it any surprise we have come to neglect the relationship wild animals have with us? 

But now emerging from this gloomy past are wonderful examples of where wildlife has been given the space to flourish and nature to take its course. What we find is that restoring wildlife populations is the cheapest, simplest, fastest and most cost-effective way of rebuilding whole landscapes – urban or otherwise. 

Given the chance (removal of threats, and some encouragement and reintroduction), wildlife recovers rapidly. For reasons explained above, habitat management that includes animal reintroduction, is many times more effective than planting vegetation alone. 

Where better to learn how to appreciate how to do this than in our cities? 

Where do urbanites fit in?

We are going to need a change in human values, where we recognise wildlife as a solution, not an obstacle to sustainable development. This new narrative needs to feed a rapid overhaul of planning laws. 

As Frank Biermann, professor of Global Sustainability Governance at Utrecht University says, much environmental policy that encompasses current scientific, regulatory and cultural practice is incompatible with social–ecological systems. 

Our old-fashioned way of thinking about, and wanting to control, nature is embedded so deeply in our behaviour that it strangles our ability to explore innovative and animal-driven solutions. 

We have to stop to think before we fish, shoot, poison, pollute, “cull” or run down animals in our cars. We absolutely cannot afford to destroy remnant wildlife habitat. The fact that our cities have half of Australia’s threatened species means we’re custodians of complex and irreplaceable sources of future prosperity. 

Rebuilding an urban environment with abundant wildlife is well within our grasp because we’re doing it already. It’s also a commitment that people love to get behind. Look at the popularity of urban Peregrine Falcons in Melbourne last summer. Urbanites love their wildlife, as disobedient and annoying as it can be, from time to time. 

As urban-dwellers, maybe all we need to do is be given the chance to offer 30 per cent of our space back to nature – our gardens, nature strips, reserves, national parks, perhaps even the roofs and walls of our built environment? 

There is much we can do about this and if we hurry, the results can be nothing short of miraculous.