Fauna and flora

There is more to ecosystem functioning than fauna and flora, but they are key pillars within the topic. To bring (back) animal and plant life to the Untraceable City, there are a lot of aspects to be taken into account. Remember that according to the Triple 95 rule, the ecosystem within the city (as well as the ecosystems affected elsewhere by the city) should be able to operate at 95% of its capacity. There will be various context-specific discussions that can only take place after a location has been selected, but there are also a number of points that should be taken into account independently from the chosen location.

• There are many other sectors or characteristics of the city that impact the opportunities and limitations of fauna and flora to thrive. It will be useful to try and identify key components. Some examples are the impact of pets (e.g. cats killing birds and mammals) or how the roads fragment animal habitats. Identifying as many of these impact factors will be highly useful.
• Cities generally have a direct impact on local watersheds. It will be helpful to try and provide pointers around what kind of impact could be tolerable, to assist the Water and Sanitation discussion.
• What exactly makes for a functioning ecosystem? Which ingredients will be needed (and are often lacking) to create a functioning ecosystem within a city?
• What kinds of human-animal interaction is desirable, and which encounters are to be avoided (and how)?
• Do we want to necessarily restore/maintain a locally indigenous ecosystem? Why, or why not? What leeway, if any, is available?

Ideas and resources

We are looking for ideas and resources in the field of Fauna and flora that may enable a city to adhere to the Triple 95 rule. Please help out!

Upload item

Title	Author(s)	Relevance
Where the wild things aren’t Webpage	Greta C. Vega	Interesting article exploring some of the ideas around restoration. Useful journal article link in this document: "Restoration and conservation efforts, however, cannot put at risk the identity, culture, and livelihood of the human populations that inhabit them. “Restoration interventions are as much about people as they are about environments” (Koech et al., 2020), although this has not always been considered. Even more important is the consideration that traditional and Indigenous knowledge on land management has been proven successful at conserving ecosystems. Despite constituting less than 5% of the global population, Indigenous peoples manage most of the planet intact landscapes."
Regreening Africa: A bottom-up transformation of degraded lands Journal Article	et al.
A spatial overview of the global importance of Indigenous lands for conservation Journal Article	Garnett et al.	Showcasing the importance of indigenous peoples in conservation/care of land.

Discussion

Questions or comments around Fauna and flora? Let's chat!