Urbanization is a major cause of both loss of biodiversity and climate change. While cities with suitable habitats and conservation policies may support local high biodiversity levels, this important aspect has actually lost the attention of the Governments keeping in view the complexity involved in governing and managing large cities.
Cities comprise of mixed green patches that vary in size and are highly scattered and disconnected. Although small green spaces largely dominate the city landscape, the roles they play often go unnoticed and, as such, are often neglected by City Governments, naturalists, and conservationists, alike, as they do not fulfill the large green spaces criteria. As such, the onus of taking care of these fragmented and isolated habitat patches, which are the signature landscape of most cities, lies with the neighborhood residents. These habitats are heterogeneous and can vary in both shape and size. Regardless of the size, they support biodiversity and provide a range of ecosystem services to the community. In a step towards this, the initiative was to create a Model for a Functional Urban Neighborhood Micro Diversity Zone in Arid Wastelands in Jammu Cíty.
Under this initiative, more than 150 species of plants have been planted till now, including some rare plants, in a relatively small area to promote bio-diversity and a sustainable ecosystem. Efforts are a foot to increase the city/urban biodiversity in terms of area/geographical coverage/species as well as in terms of innovative ideas.
The plantation of more than 150 species of plants from different areas and climatic zones in an identified barren land has improved the greenery and aesthetic/scenic beauty as a Model for a Functional Urban Micro Bio-Diversity Zone in arid wastelands in Jammu City. The efforts, so far, have been able to increase the green cover and improve the flora, fauna, and micro-climate of the urban neighborhood.
All these species are rarely available in urban areas these days and people in concrete forests have actually forgotten these valuable bio-resources. Bringing them back to cities make these plants/trees more popular and closer to humanity. The ready availability of these plants and their products (with medicinal and other properties) has made it possible to use them more frequently by common people.
The pace with which cities are developing worldwide has definitely influenced biodiversity due to the concretization of land, supplemented by the fact that the cities are the consumption centers of the world’s resources. Cities consume large amounts of resources drown from faraway places, thereby affecting the biodiversity of those places as well – what we call “Global Biodiversity Influence (GBI)”.
Neighborhood biodiversity, as such, has been a necessity and integral part of our environment not only for proper functioning and existence of the ecological world but also for biodiversity conservation. Biodiversity is the heritage of nature and it should be conserved both for the welfare of the human population in particular and the natural environment in general.
The concept of Neighbourhood Biodiversity is one of the innovative and positive approaches to promote the conservation of natural resources in the urban matrix. Due to increasing industrialization, human population, overgrazing, and urbanization, biological diversity needs strong management strategies and the promotion of Neighbourhood Biodiversity is one of the strongest efforts in this field.
With due care of the area and regular watering and organic manuring, there is cent percent survival of all the plants and over the past two years, the barren area has been converted into a green zone where the footfall has increased considerably and the area has become a happening place both for the morning as well as evening walkers. This area has also become a stress-relieving zone for common citizens. In the coming time, it will become a good oxygen zone with lot many direct and indirect health benefits.
