ECOLOPES TALK #18 - Cities, Data & Biodiversity by Jennifer Rae Pierce

ECOLOPES TALK #18 - Cities, Data & Biodiversity: A Global Review of Strategies, Frameworks, and Indicators by Jennifer Rae Pierce
Cities, Data, & Biodiversity: A Global Review of Strategies, Frameworks, and Indicators
Jennifer Rae Pierce is a political ecologist, urban planner, and urban biodiversity policy specialist with 18 years of experience with cities and nature. She is the co-founder and COO of Urban Biodiversity Hub (UBHub) which hosts the largest global database on urban biodiversity activities, publishes research on local practices and global targets for biodiversity, and supports related indicator tracking and development for local governments. She has prepared local government tools and reports including a biodiversity and ecosystem services mainstreaming toolkit for ICLEI, the Urban Nature Indexes for IUCN, and the Science-Based Targets for Cities for Nature. Her published research includes global comparative work across hundreds of cities as well as more in-depth explorations of cities in Thailand, India, Japan, Singapore, Israel, Canada, the USA, Brazil, and South Africa. She holds a master’s degree in urban planning from Cornell University and in environmental science and policy from Central European University. She is now earning her PhD from UBC on urban biodiversity worldviews and justice.
Her presentation offers a global review of strategies, frameworks, and indicators for urban biodiversity. It emphasizes the critical role of cities in conservation, highlighting their impact on biodiversity and the benefits of incorporating nature into urban planning. The presentation underscores the need for comprehensive, consistent, and standardized approaches to urban biodiversity planning and monitoring, and includes an overview of the Urban Biodiversity Hub's research results in this area. It reviews the IUCN Urban Nature Indexes (UNI) as an example of a valuable framework with a comprehensive and flexible design and science-based indicators for cities seeking to measure and improve their ecological performance.
More Information about the speaker and her work:
www.ubhub.org/