User:Pointe15/Ecologically sustainable development

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Ecologically sustainable development is the environmental component of sustainable development. It can be achieved partially through the use of the precautionary principle; if there are threats of serious or irreversible environmental damage, lack of full scientific certainty should not be used as a reason for postponing measures to prevent environmental degradation. Also important is the principle of intergenerational equity; the present generation should ensure that the health, diversity and productivity of the environment is maintained or enhanced for the benefit of future generations. In order for this movement to flourish, environmental factors should be more heavily weighed in the valuation of assets and services to provide more incentive for the conservation of biological diversity and ecological integrity.

Biodiversity Considerations
When trying to integrate ecologically sustainable developments into a region, it is important to take biodiversity into consideration before moving forward with developments. Specifically, how a sustainable development impacts the biodiversity of its area and how they can be used to facilitate biodiversity. Recognizing and conserving biodiversity is essential for maintaining the resilience and functionality of ecosystems which humans greatly depend.

Although urbanization can have negative effects on certain flora and fauna species, if urban planning is carried out in a way that does consider biodiversity, some urban areas can provide habitats and foster biodiversity which can be facilitated with the help of ecologically sustainable developments. Cities provide important habitats for many types of plants and fungi and can also act as a refuge for certain animal species as well. This can be assisted even more with the use of ecologically sustainable developments which play a large role in being able to provide habitats for those species. In addition to sustainable developments in cities, green areas, such as parks and open spaces, or green corridors, provide species with food and breeding habitats. Specifically increasing the size of green areas and developing a network of green corridors is a successful way to maintain high levels of urban biodiversity. An additional aspect that can be influenced by ecologically sustainable developments and is connected to green areas are urban forests. Urban forests have often been included in cities whether through landscapes, parks, or street trees and can affect the biodiversity of a city. Depending on the type of urban forest and the way it is managed, urban forests can provide a space where native tree species are able to thrive and provide strong biodiveristy efforts for the city it is in.

A feature that can be included in an ecological sustainable development is a green roof. The incorporation of a green roof on a sustainable development can facilitate urban biodiversity from different types of vegetation that can be installed on a green roof, thus increasing the overall biodiversity of an area. The installation of green roofs can also help improve biodiversity specifically for species that need extra assistance and are not as migratory as other species. They can provide species a safe, natural, undisturbed habitat, depending on the setup and conditions of the green roof/space, where they can develop and grow.

The density and compactness of a city can also affect the biodiversity conditions which influences the types and number of ecologically sustainable developments that should be implemented to meet the goal of increasing biodiversity. It has been studied that if high density urban areas are well managed, they can preserve large intact green spaces and create a more ecologically heterogeneous area that has the ability to support both urban-adapted and urban sensitive species. However, there is a specific critical threshold that most cities have where if residential density reaches that point, all species would decline as there would not be enough vegetation to maintain them.

Overall, strategic urban planning with the implementation of ecologically sustainable development and the preservation of green areas and a network of corridors between these areas should be utilized in order to have an efficient use of land. This thus reduces the impact of humans on the city's biodiversity and allows for opportunities for people to interact with the local biodiversity.