Guide

Choose from below the two sections of guideHub: categorized resource lists over 100 helpful urban biodiversity resources, or comparisons of common biodiversity measurement and planning frameworks and indices.

List of Resources

The Local Action for Biodiversity (LAB) Pioneer Programme is a five-step programme for local governments run by the ICLEI Cities Biodiversity Center. The LAB programme requires participants to prepare and politically commit to a biodiversity report and strategy and to implement three local biodiversity projects. UBHub supports ICLEI’s Programme on our site by including its five steps on myHUB for self-reporting purposes whether or not a city is officially a part of ICLEI’s program. ICLEI offers LAB Pioneers additional capacity-building support and networking in return for a fee as part of the Programme.

The Japanese City Biodiversity Index (JCBI) was published by the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. JCBI is a tool for local public authorities to realise and objectively evaluate their cities’ biodiversity, to facilitate better schemes and policy making regarding biodiversity. Applying the JCBI is a simple process of calculating 7 biodiversity indicators, requiring self-reviews and providing data online for all local public authorities.
「都市における生物多様性指標」 は、地方公共団体が都市の生物多様性の状況及びその確保に向けた取り組みの状況を客観的に把握・評価し、今後の施策や取組・普及の促進に活かせるよう、国土交通省が公表した生物多様性指標である。地方公共団体によって調査の実施状況や精度、データの収集・分析・評価が困難であることを踏まえ、2016年に簡易版が査定され、全国の地方公共団体が容易に入手できるデータ及びアンケートによる自己評価によって全7項目の指標値の算出ができるようになった。

The Biophilic Cities Network aims to increase the connection between humans and nature in urban environments. They connect citizens and policy makers so they can share goals and best practices to bring nature explicitly into the planning and design of cities. To participate, a city must prepare a narrative statement describing their existing initiatives and future aspirations related to bringing nature into the city. Cities set their own indicators and benchmarks. The network publishes a monthly newsletter, hosts a bi-annual conference, and produces webinars throughout the year. They are also active on social media.

The Singapore Index allows cities to assess and monitor the progress of their biodiversity conservation efforts against their own benchmarks. Its 23 indicators measure native biodiversity in the city, ecosystem services, and governance and management of biodiversity. Each indicator is assigned a score. Participating cities are required to conduct a baseline scoring when they begin using the Singapore Index. After that, cities are asked to conduct further scorings every three years.

The Ecological Footprint is an ecological accounting method that indicates the amount of terrestrial and aquatic areas impacted by all activities of people in a given area. It requires the input of consumption data for all economic aspects, including land and buildings, transportation, food, waste production, etc. The output is in units of global hectares, which is a measure of productive land and sea area. This can then be compared with the biocapacity of the same area to determine whether the people in the area are living sustainably and to see which aspects of their lives have the greatest environmental impact.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) made this guide to the Ecological Footprint for Local Governments.

The BiodiverCities Methodology is published by ICLEI Canada and Toronto and Region Conservation Authority. It is a companion document to the Urban Biodiversity Management Guidebook. A compilation which discusses why, who & how of integrating urban biodiversity to build resilient and sustainable communities. It puts forth best practices by discussing various successful examples and case studies which have shown positive results and have the potential to be replicated by the local governments and decision makers.

IUCN Biodiversity indicators for Local authorities Engaged in 2012, within the framework of the working group "Local authorities & Biodiversity " in the french context, this project aims to identify a common and synthetic set of biodiversity indicators adapted to subnational territorial scales, primarily regional, based mainly on the Singapore Index. Through this reference game, the regions will have a common self-assessment tool that will also allow them to report on their responses to the Aichi targets and the National Biodiversity Strategy.
UICN Indicateurs de Biodiversité pour les Collectivités Territoriales Engagé en 2012, dans le cadre du groupe de travail « Collectivités territoriales & Biodiversité » dans le contexte français, ce projet vise à identifier un jeu commun et synthétique d’indicateurs de biodiversité adaptés aux échelons territoriaux infranationaux, en premier lieu régional, en se basant essentiellement sur l’Indice de Singapour. Grâce à ce jeu de référence, les régions disposent d’un outil commun d’auto-évaluation leur permettant également de rendre compte de leurs réponses aux objectifs d’Aichi et de la Stratégie nationale pour la biodiversité.

The Economics of Ecosystems & Biodiversity (TEEB) for Local and Regional Policy Makers focuses on ecosystem services, such as clean air, healthy food, protection against floods, and pollination, just to name a few, which they further by guiding decision and policy making. They collect and provide information to stakeholders, focusing primarily on showing the economic advantages of investing in ecosystem services.

Biodiversity Sensitive Urban Design (BSUD) is a protocol for ecologically restorative suburban design that quantitatively measures impacts on biodiversity. It seeks to create suburban environments that provide net benefit through onsite restoration and conservation activities to native species and ecosystems. Their process entails identifying local ecological values, identifying and setting objectives, deciding upon actions, and quantifying the results.