Urban Ecosystems and Biodiversity
Climate change is already affecting cities and urbanized regions bringing growing attention to current and future climate effects on urban ecosystems and biodiversity. Almost all of the impacts of climate change have direct or indirect consequences for urban ecosystems, biodiversity, and the critical services they provide for human health and wellbeing in cities (TEEB, 2011; Elmqvist et al., 2013). The increasing knowledge of the benefits of urban ecosystems for the livelihoods of urban residents suggests an important and expanding role for urban ecosystems and biodiversity in urban adaptation to and mitigation of local effects of climate change. However, conserving, restoring, and expanding urban ecosystems to enhance climate resilience and other co-benefits under mounting climatic and non-climatic stresses of growing urbanization and development will require improved urban planning, policy, and governance to protect and manage urban ecosystems and biodiversity (Elmqvist et al., 2013; Solecki and Marcotullio, 2013; McPhearson et al., 2014). In this chapter we review key concepts, challenges and ecosystem-based pathways for adaptation and mitigation of climate change in cities through recent advances in the field of urban ecology and climate science.