Conserving Urban Greens in Indian Cities: Opportunities and Challenges
Shamita Kumar
BVIEER, Pune, India
Biodiversity conservation in India, a global biodiversity hotspot and also home to one sixth of the world's human population on 2.4 percent of the global landmass, is an immensely challenging task. India is stated to have 87 metropolitan cities by 2031 up from 50 in 2011 with 600 million people living in its cities by 2030. It is today clear that to meet its biodiversity targets, India has to be innovative in its approaches to biodiversity conservation that hitherto only focused on Protected Areas. While Protected Areas continue to remain the cornerstone of biodiversity conservation, cities will play an important role in achieving our biodiversity targets. This talk will focus on changing paradigms of urban green conservation in Indian cities highlighting the opportunities that exist with case studies and the challenges that need to be overcome.
November 19, 2014