Resilient Cities

With the majority of the world's population living in urban areas, its time to ask how they can become more livable, sustainable and resilient. biodiverCities explores why biodiversity should be the business of everyone committed to building more sustainable cities. This Primer is intended for urban decison-makers who want to explore new approaches to this issue, and see examples of where biodiversity has been successfully integrated into municipal services and programs.

Freshwater conservation issues must be at the heart of the climate agenda and efforts to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 13. While freshwater is a major conduit through which climate impacts are felt, it can also play a central role in climate adaptation and resilience-building for people, economies and nature. Managing water carefully through nature-based solutions is a crucial element in tackling the most serious global climate risks.

A guide to encourage cities and towns to recognize trees as critical, functional infrastructure that is just as important as buildings and roads.

The purpose of the 2016 Berkley Workshop was to explore some of the ways that land conservation groups might best respond to our changing climate, with particular emphasis on the science and finance guiding and enabling the stewardship of natural areas.

This National Action Plan is based on the latest science on climate risks to freshwater resources and establishes the following national goal: Government agencies and citizens collaboratively manage freshwater resources in
response to a changing climate in order to ensure adequate water supplies, to safeguard human life, health and property, and to protect water quality and aquatic ecosystems.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal federal agency tasked with providing information to the public on the extent and status of the nation’s wetland and deepwater habitats, as well as changes to these habitats over time.

Green infrastructure is the interconnected network of open spaces and natural areas that provides wildlife habitat and recreational opportunities and maintains the sustainability of our region. CNT and Openlands collaborated on this effort to support natural resource protection and land preservation efforts across parts of Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana. Funding for this project was generously provided by The Joyce Foundation. This site allows you to create your own Green Infrastructure maps online, as well as view and download green infrastructure maps of the 19 counties studied.

A virtual magazine and discussion site on cities as ecosystems...devoted to cities as social-ecological spaces, ecosystems of people, buildings, open spaces, and nature. City design with nature at the center is key to urban resilience, sustainability, and livability.

The field of climate change adaptation is in a period of critical transition. The general concepts of adaptation have been well developed over the past decade. Now, practitioners must move from generalities to concrete actions, including implementation, monitoring, and evaluation. The intent of this report is to provide a brief overview of key climate change impacts and a review of the prevalent work occurring on climate change adaptation in the Great Lakes region, especially focusing on activities in the natural and built environments as they relate to freshwater resources (and in some cases, at the freshwater/terrestrial interface). This report presents the results of EcoAdapt's efforts to survey, inventory, and, where possible, assess adaptation activities in the Great Lakes region.