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Top1. Introduction
“No man is an island, we rely upon each other” (John Donne)
Cities as pivotal of economic activity and also its environmental effects need urgent attention. The adverse environmental consequences of rapid urbanization are starkly apparent. Urban ecosystems have been transferred into polluted charades and concrete jungles posing challenges for environmental sustainability, ecology as well as society at large. In India efforts of biodiversity conservation are majorly focused on wildlife protection in reserves, national parks and sanctuaries, with minuscule attention to the implications of the current pattern of urban growth for nature in and around cities. Facing these challenges would require a sustained focus on devising and executing policies for ecologically sustainable urban growth. It requires a robust integrative, inclusive, adaptive and resilient pathway towards urban sustainability mission of Governments, Businesses and Civil society put together. Restoration and Conservation of the thriving urban ecosystems cannot be attained by the technological fixes of ‘Smart Cities’ alone. Smart cities should be integrating technological advancements along with strategic action plan of restoring ecosystems with local and indigenous flora and fauna that is unique to that ecosystem instead of cosmetic landscaping and mono cultivation popular in the urban settings to enhance the beauty of the build environment. One of the success stories in Urban Biodiversity restoration and conservation has been that of WIPRO in Bangalore.
The Paper builds by reiterating the need for urban ecosystems restoration based on literature review. Further an analysis of existing urban development Governmental schemes and the extant of inclusion of urban biodiversity restoration is done. The urban development schemes ‘Smart cities Mission’, ‘Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation’ (AMRUT) as well as ‘The National Mission on Sustainable Habitat’(NMUSH) are picked up for analysis as all three have closely similar goals. The Paper culminates with a case depicting exemplary initiatives of Wipro in restoring urban ecosystems that is worth emulating for governments and businesses .It proposes use of City Biodiversity Index (CBI) to collect information on biodiversity so as to make constructive action plan for restoration and conservation. The Paper highlights collaborative engagement as one of the core elements of success apart from strategic intent, action plan and execution of the same.
Top2. Literature Review
This section defines the concepts and builds on the reasoning why we need to restore ecosystems and what benefits it accrues to the human habitats. It also reveals the current approaches of urban ecosystem highlighting the need to restructure and collaborate with the stakeholders.