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Promote long-term integrative planning to decrease the communities’ vulnerability and increase it’s adaptability to the harmful effects of climate change.

Sub themes on this page: Land, Ecology, Climate Change Mitigation, Climate Change Adaptation

Land

Create ecological resilience, engineering resilience, and promote community health and wellbeing

By providing spaces that meet the needs of residents and accommodate their daily activities while minimising the negative environmental impact of reconstruction.

Strategies:

  • Plan for comprehensive Environmental Site Assessment (EIA)
  • Implement a Construction Environmental Management Plan (CEMP)
  • Prepare site improvement plan and prioritise degraded sites and brownfields
  • Design For green infrastructure
  • Optimise biomass, soil protection, and vegetation
  • Support local food production

 

Alignment with WorldGBC principles:

  • Net Zero: Embodied Carbon
  • Health & Wellbeing Framework – 1.1 improve Air Quality, 1.2 improve Water Quality, 3.2 Ensure outdoor nature access & Biodiversity, 5.2 Commit to Construction workers Health & Wellbeing, 6.2 Design for Resilience and Adaptation action, 6.4 Ensure resource efficiency

 

Stakeholders to involve:

  • Government
  • Real estate and investors
  • Urban planners, architects, landscape designers, and contractors
  • Residents and public
  • Landowners

Ecology

Conduct an accurate and detailed assessment of the ecological health of the area and set an agenda of remedial work needed and baseline conditions for planning and design.

Strategies:

  • Identify and map existing ecosystems
  • Identify current and potential negative impact on ecosystems
  • Manage ecosystems

 

Alignment with existing WorldGBC principles:

 

Stakeholders to involve:

  • National ministries responsible for environment and agriculture
  • Planning authorities
  • International donors
  • Local municipalities
  • Soil expert, water expert, horticulturist, native plant specialist, ecologist, landscape ecologist and conservation biologist
  • Planners, designers, engineers, architects, and landscape architects
  • Landowners
  • Communities
  • Non-Governmental organizations (NGO) and Civil Society concerned with ecological processes
  • Conservation ecologists, and biologists

Any other expert needed to address specific conditions or situations

Climate Change Mitigation

Integrate climate change mitigation strategies into sustainable reconstruction processes, taking into consideration the life cycle of the project.

Provide multi-level monitoring and assessment tools for reduction of GHGs and ozone depletion

Avoid reconstruction activities that may potentially contribute to climate change and to simultaneously identify the best reconstruction practices.

Strategies

  • Moderate energy consumption and prioritise energy mix optimisation.
  • Material consumption and green material acquisition

 

Alignment with exisiting WorldGBC principles

 

Stakeholders to involve:

  • Ministry of environment
  • Department of standards
  • Manufacturing facilities
  • Engineers

Climate Change Adaptation

Prevent or reduce the impact of climate change on the natural and built environment and human systems by planning and implementing legal, physical, socio-economic (including mental health and wellbeing) interventions.

Strategies

  • Integrate climate change planning and governance across sectors
  • Create physical adaptation actions
  • Consider socioeconomic adaptation

 

Alignment with WorldGBC principles:

 

Stakeholders to involve:

  • Local government
  • Concerned ministries
  • UN agencies
  • UNFCCC, NGOs and/or Green Building Councils
  • International development NGOs
  • Academia
  • Engineers
  • Media

 

Theme Tools:

  • Regional green infrastructure planning
  • Urban green infrastructure planning and design
  • Nature-based solutions
  • Sustainable Drainage System (SuDS)
  • Wetland assessment and protection
  • Soil assessment and testing
  • Water assessment and testing
  • Ecosystem Health assessment
  • Red list of threatened species
  • List of invasive species
  • Plant hardiness by climatic zones
  • Ecosystem services frameworks: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA); The Economics of Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity; UK National Ecosystem Assessment (UK NEA); and the Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services (CICES)
  • GIS maps to locate natural and local resources
  • LCA software tools: EQUER, LCAid™, Eco-Quantum, LISA, Envest, LCAit, PEMS, TEAM™, Umberto, SIB LCA, Boustead, SimaPro, One Click LCA, and GaBi
  • Carbon inventory methodologies (e.g., GHG Protocol standards, EPA’s Local Greenhouse Gas Inventory Tool, Carbon Inventory Methods Handbook)
  • Energy demand optimisation and planning tools such as Revit, Energy Pls, Eotact, IES
  • Life Cycle Impact Assessment Tools and Databases (See Chapter 1 – Life Cycle Assessment)
  • Arc Skoru | Sustainability performance platform: https://arcskoru.com/
  • Building Environmental and Economic Sustainability (BEES) software: https://www.nist.gov/services-resources/software/bees
  • FAO-ADAPT Framework Programme on Climate Change Adaptation
  • UNDRR Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction
  • Historical meteorological data
  • Climate Change Simulation Models
  • Disaster risk assessment studies
  • Floodplain simulation tools (HEC-RAS), drought simulation tools (NIZOWKA), and wind simulation software (RWIND), to assess the level of hazard on infrastructure and land
  • Remote sensing: to benchmark, measure, and assess climate changes, especially, drought, desertification, and solid erosion due to floods
  • Frameworks: (FAO-ADAPT Framework Programme on Climate Change Adaptation [Ref 141]), (UNDRR Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction [Ref. 139])
  • U.S. Green Building Council, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) NC 2009
  • Credit 7.1 Heat Island Effect Non-roof
  • Credit 7.2 Heat Island Effect Roof
  • Pearl Community Rating System
  • RE-2 Urban Heat Reduction
  • The Sustainable Sites Initiatives: Site Design
  • Cr 4.12 Reduce Urban Heat Island Effects
  • GIS and cadastral maps: to enforce laws and regulations

Sub theme: Land 

Abbott, J., Davies, P., Simkins, P., Morgan, C., Levin, D., & Robinson, P. (2013). Creating water sensitive places – scoping the potential for Water Sensitive Urban Design in the UK. In Water Sensitive Urban Design in the UK – ideas for built environment practitioners. CIRIA. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUK…

Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal. 1989, acceded in 1995

C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group. (2020, July). How to build back better with a 15-minute city. C40 Knowledge Hub. https://www.c40knowledgehub.org/s/article/How-to-build-back-better-with-…

CITES. 2001. ‘Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)’

Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. 1972, acceded in 1984

EPA. 2004. Primer for Municipal Wastewater Treatment Systems, EPA 832-R-04-001. https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-09/documents/primer.pdf

‘Integrating Food into Urban Planning’. ISBN-139781787353763, https://doi.org/10.14324/111.9781787353763

International Plant Protection Convention. 1951, adhered in 2006.

Kuwait Regional Convention for Cooperation on the Protection of the Marine Environment from Pollution. 1978.

Ma, et al. 2015. ‘Sustainable Water system for the City of Tomorrow-A conceptual Framework’. Sustainability, Vol. 7. DOI: 10.3390/su70912071, ISSN2071-1050

Mueller, N., Rojas-Rueda,D., et al. 2020. ‘Changing the urban design of cities for health: The superblock model’. Environment International, Vol. 134(105132). ISSN 0160-4120. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2019.105132. 

Protocol for the Protection of the Marine Environment against Pollution from Land-Based Sources. 1990.

Rotterdam Convention on Shared Responsibility. Acceded in 2004.

Sharifi, A. and Yamagata, Y. 2018. Resilience-Oriented Urban Planning. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-75798-8_1

SITES® Rating System. www.sustainablesites.org

Stockholm Convention on the Protection of Human Health and the Environment from Persistent Organic Pollutants. Acceded in 2004.

The Arab Declaration on Environment and Development. 1991.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). 2019. ‘Climate Change and Land: an IPCC special report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems’ [P.R. Shukla, J. Skea, E. Calvo Buendia, V. Masson-Delmotte, H.-O. Pörtner, D. C. Roberts, P. Zhai, R. Slade, S. Connors, R. van Diemen, M. Ferrat, E. Haughey, S. Luz, S. Neogi, M. Pathak, J. Petzold, J. Portugal Pereira, P. Vyas, E. Huntley, K. Kissick, M. Belkacemi, J. Malley, (eds.)]. In press. Land Degradation Chapter, www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/sites/4/2019/11/07_Chapter-4.pdf

Thorpe, D. ‘The 12 Rules of Sustainable Urbanism’.

Tynkkynen, O. 2015. ‘Green to Scale, Low-carbon success stories to inspire the world’. UCL Press. 2018.

United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, including the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development and Agenda 21.1992.

United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). 1994

United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia. 1995. ‘The Arab Declaration on Sustainable Development for Human Settlements’

United Nations Treaty Collection. 1992 (Ratified in 1996). ‘Convention on Biological Diversity’:  https://treaties.un.org/pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=XXVII…

UN-Habitat. 2020. ‘World Cities Report 2020 The Value of Sustainable Urbanization.

United Nations. 1997 (Acceded in 2005). ‘Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’

United States Environmental Protection Agency, Green Infrastructure. https://www.epa.gov/green-infrastructure

USAID. (2014). USAID, Climate-Resilient Development: A Framework for Understanding and Addressing Climate Change. USAID.

Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer (1985) and Montreal Protocol (1987), acceded in 1996, including the London and Copenhagen amendments to the protocol and the Montreal and Beijing amendments to the protocol (ratified in 2009)

 

Sub theme: Ecology

Beatley, T. (2016). Handbook of biophilic city planning and design. Springer. https://doi.org/10.5822/978-1-61091-621-9 

CICES. (2013). The Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services (CICES). Retrieved 20 April 2021, from https://cices.eu/

Donovan, G. H. (2017). Including public-health benefits of trees in urban-forestry decision making. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 22, 120-123.

Environmental Protection Agency (USA); EPA level III ecoregion Major native plant community types: www.epa.gov/wed/pages/ecoregions/level_iii_iv.htm  

Environmental Protection Agency: www.epa.gov

Faber Taylor, A., & Kuo, F. E. M. (2011). Could exposure to everyday green spaces help treat ADHD: Evidence from children’s play settings. Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being, 3(3), 281-303.

Fan, Y., Das, K., & Chen, Q. (2011). Neighborhood green, social support, physical activity, and stress: Assessing the cumulative impact. Health and Place, 17, 1202–1211.

FAO, 2020) – soil testing methods : http://www.fao.org/3/ca2796en/CA2796EN.pdf

FAO, Good Governance in nature conservation : http://www.fao.org/3/ar301e/ar301e.pdf  

Forman, R. T.T. (1995). Some general principles of landscape and regional ecology. Landscape Ecology, 10, 133-142. Springer Link. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00133027

Global invasive Species data Base (system allows the entry of specific countries to determine list of invasive species relevant to the specific location of interest): http://issg.org/database/species/search.asp?sts=sss&st=sss&fr=1&x=0&y=0&… USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map, American Horticultural Society : https://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/

Green infrastructure Planning Guide: http://www.greeninfrastructurenw.co.uk/resources/North_East_Green_Infras…

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: https://www.iucn.org/resources/conservation-tools/iucn-red-list-threaten…

IUCN resources: https://www.iucn.org/resources

IUCN website – https://www.iucn.org/

James, P., Hart, J. E., Banay, R. F., & Laden, F. (2016). Exposure to greenness and mortality in a nationwide prospective cohort study of women. Environmental Health Perspectives, 124(9), 1344–1352.  Kroeger, T., Escobedo, F. J., Hernandez, J. L., Varela, S., Delphin, S., Fisher, J. R., & Waldron, J. (2014). Reforestation as a novel abatement and compliance measure for ground-level ozone. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, 111(40), E4204-E4213.

Kuo, F. E., & Sullivan, W. C. (2001). Environment and crime in the inner city does vegetation reduce crime. Environment and Behavior, 33(3), 343-367.

Lu, Y., et al. 2015. Ecosystem health towards sustainability. Ecosystem Health and Sustainability Vol 1(1):2. http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/EHS14-0013.1

MA. (2005). Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. Retrieved 20 April 2021, from https://www.millenniumassessment.org/en/index.html

Maas, J., Verheij, R. A., de Vries, S., Spreeuwenberg, P., Groenewegen, P. P., & Schellevis, G. S. (2009). Morbidity is related to a green living environment. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, 63(12), 967-973.

McDonald, R., Aljabar, L., Aubuchon, C., Birnbaum, H. G., Chandler, C., Toomey, B., Zeiper, M. (2017). Funding trees for health: An analysis of finance and policy actions to enable tree planting for public health. The Nature Conservancy/Trust for Public Land/Analysis Group. Retrieved from https://thought-leadership-production.s3.amazonaws.com/2017/09/19/15/24/…

McPherson, E. G., Simpson, J. R., Peper, P. J., Maco, S. E., & Xiao, Q. (2005). Municipal forest benefits and costs in five U.S. cities. Journal of Forestry, 103(8), 411-416.

Mensah, C. A., Andres, L., Perera, U., & Roji, A. (2016). Enhancing quality of life through the lens of green spaces: A systematic review approach. International Journal of Wellbeing, 6(1), 142-163.

Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Report. 2005. https://www.millenniumassessment.org/en/Synthesis.html

RAMSAR – https://www.ramsar.org/ and RAMSAR Site management tool kit https://www.ramsar.org/resources/ramsar-sites-management-toolkit

Regional Green Infrastructure and the Wildland-Urban Interface;  American Planning Association: https://www.planning.org/nationalcenters/green/regionalgreen/  

Roe, J., & Aspinall, P. (2011). The restorative outcomes of forest school and conventional school in young people with good and poor behavior. Urban Forestry and Urban Greening, 10(3), 205-212.

SITES v.2 (2015) – https://www.sustainablesites.org/resources

Solecki, W. D., Rosenzweig, C., Parshall, L., Pope, G., Clark, M., Cox, J., & Wiencke, M. (2005). Mitigation of the heat island effect in urban New Jersey. Global Environmental Change Part B: Environmental Hazards, 6(1), 39-49.

SuDS (Sustainable Drainage Systems): https://www.susdrain.org/

Sustainable SITES Initiative. (2014). SITES v2 Rating System For Sustainable Land Design and Development. Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, The University of Texas at Austin, U.S. Botanic Garden, American Society of Landscape Architects. https://bit.ly/3gbG3n2

Taylor, M. S., Wheeler, B. W., White, M. P., Economou, T., & Osborne, N. J. (2015). Research note: Urban street tree density and antidepressant prescription rates – A cross-sectional study in London, UK. Landscape and Urban Planning, 136, 174-179.

TEEB. (2007). Home – The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity. Retrieved 20 April 2021, from http://teebweb.org/ 

Troy, A., Grove, J. M., & O’Neil-Dunne, J. (2012). The relationship between tree canopy and crime rates across an urban–rural gradient in the greater Baltimore region. Landscape and Urban Planning, 106(3), 262-270.

UK NEA. (2011). The UK National Ecosystem Assessment. Retrieved 20 April 2021, from http://uknea.unep-wcmc.org/

UNEP Guidelines for protection of aquatic systems: https://www.unenvironment.org/resources/report/review-existing-water-qua…

UNESCO, Natural World Heritage: https://whc.unesco.org/en/natural-world-heritage/

USDA, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Soil quality assessment: https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/soils/health/

Weinstein, N., Przybylski, A. K., & Ryan, R. M. (2009). Can nature make us more caring? Effects of immersion in nature on intrinsic aspirations and generosity. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 35, 1315-1329.

Wolf, K. L., & Robbins, A. S. T. (2015). Metro nature, environmental health, and economic value. Environmental Health Perspectives, 123(5), 390-398.

Wolf, K. L., Measells, M. K., Grado, S. C., & Robbins, A. S. T. (2015). Economic values of metro nature health benefits: A life course approach. Urban Forestry and Urban Greening, 14(3), 694–701.

WWF (World Wildlife) Wildfinder: to determine important biomes or ecosystems: www.worldwildlife.org/science/wildfinder/.

Zelenski, J. M., Dopko, R. L., & Capaldi, C. A. (2015). Cooperation is in our nature: Nature exposure may promote cooperative and environmentally sustainable behavior. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 42, 24-31.

 

Sub theme: Ecology 

Beatley, T. (2016). Handbook of biophilic city planning and design. Springer. https://doi.org/10.5822/978-1-61091-621-9 

CICES. (2013). The Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services (CICES). Retrieved 20 April 2021, from https://cices.eu/

Donovan, G. H. (2017). Including public-health benefits of trees in urban-forestry decision making. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 22, 120-123.

Environmental Protection Agency (USA); EPA level III ecoregion Major native plant community types: www.epa.gov/wed/pages/ecoregions/level_iii_iv.htm  

Environmental Protection Agency: www.epa.gov

Faber Taylor, A., & Kuo, F. E. M. (2011). Could exposure to everyday green spaces help treat ADHD: Evidence from children’s play settings. Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being, 3(3), 281-303.

Fan, Y., Das, K., & Chen, Q. (2011). Neighborhood green, social support, physical activity, and stress: Assessing the cumulative impact. Health and Place, 17, 1202–1211.

FAO, 2020) – soil testing methods: http://www.fao.org/3/ca2796en/CA2796EN.pdf

FAO, Good Governance in nature conservation: http://www.fao.org/3/ar301e/ar301e.pdf  

Forman, R. T.T. (1995). Some general principles of landscape and regional ecology. Landscape Ecology, 10, 133-142. Springer Link. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00133027

Global invasive Species data Base (system allows the entry of specific countries to determine list of invasive species relevant to the specific location of interest): http://issg.org/database/species/search.asp?sts=sss&st=sss&fr=1&x=0&y=0&… USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map, American Horticultural Society : https://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/

Green infrastructure Planning Guide: http://www.greeninfrastructurenw.co.uk/resources/North_East_Green_Infras…

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: https://www.iucn.org/resources/conservation-tools/iucn-red-list-threaten…

IUCN resources: https://www.iucn.org/resources

IUCN website – https://www.iucn.org/

James, P., Hart, J. E., Banay, R. F., & Laden, F. (2016). Exposure to greenness and mortality in a nationwide prospective cohort study of women. Environmental Health Perspectives, 124(9), 1344–1352.

Kroeger, T., Escobedo, F. J., Hernandez, J. L., Varela, S., Delphin, S., Fisher, J. R., & Waldron, J. (2014). Reforestation as a novel abatement and compliance measure for ground-level ozone. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, 111(40), E4204-E4213.

Kuo, F. E., & Sullivan, W. C. (2001). Environment and crime in the inner city does vegetation reduce crime. Environment and Behavior, 33(3), 343-367.

 

Sub theme: Climate Change Mitigation

Garrard, S. L., & Beaumont, N. J. (2014). The effect of ocean acidification on carbon storage and sequestration in seagrass beds; a global and UK context. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 86(1-2), 138-146.

IEA. (2020, February 11). Global emissions trends. Global CO2 emissions in 2019. https://www.iea.org/articles/global-co2-emissions-in-2019.       

IPCC, 2014: Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change. Contribution of Working Group III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Edenhofer, O., R. Pichs-Madruga, Y. Sokona, E. Farahani, S. Kadner, K. Seyboth, A. Adler, I.Baum, S. Brunner, P. Eickemeier, B. Kriemann, J. Savolainen, S. Schlömer, C.von Stechow, T. Zwickel and J.C. Minx (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press,Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA.

IPCC, 2018: Annex I: Glossary [Matthews, J.B.R. (ed.)]. In: Global Warming of 1.5°C. An IPCC Special Report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty [Masson-Delmotte, V., P. Zhai, H.-O. Pörtner, D.

Lovelock, C. E., & Duarte, C. M. (2019). Dimensions of blue carbon and emerging perspectives. Biology Letters, 15(3), 20180781

Renforth, P., & Henderson, G. (2017). Assessing ocean alkalinity for carbon sequestration. Reviews of Geophysics, 55(3), 636-674.

Roberts, J. Skea, P.R. Shukla, A. Pirani, W. Moufouma-Okia, C. Péan, R. Pidcock, S. Connors, J.B.R. Matthews, Y. Chen, X. Zhou, M.I. Gomis, E. Lonnoy, T. Maycock, M. Tignor, and T. Waterfield (eds.)]. In Press.

 

Sub theme: Climate Change Adaptation 

Brattebo, B. O., & Booth, D. B. (2003). Long-term stormwater quantity and quality performance of permeable pavement systems. Water research, 37(18), 4369-4376.

Climate Resilience Evaluation & Awareness Tool (CREAT) EPA; water. epa.gov/infrastructure/watersecurity/climate/creat.cfm.

Dietz, M. E., & Clausen, J. C. (2005). A field evaluation of rain garden flow and pollutant treatment. Water, Air, and Soil Pollution, 167(1), 123-138.

Palla, A., Sansalone, J. J., Gnecco, I., & Lanza, L. G. (2011). Storm water infiltration in a monitored green roof for hydrologic restoration. Water Science and Technology, 64(3), 766-773.

Smit, B., & Pilifosova, O. (2003). Adaptation to climate change in the context of sustainable development and equity. Sustainable Development, 8(9), 9.