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Canberra’s population is expected to nearly double in the next 40 years (Allen, 2021). With this increase, there is the need to increase urbanisation and housing within the ACT region. However, this drives species homogenisation through the loss of specialist species and the increase of generalist species (Concepción et al., 2015).

This necessitates the creation and preservation of healthy green spaces within urban environments as these decrease the rate of biodiversity loss by providing spaces for remnant biodiversity (Gairola & Noresah, 2010).

Ginninderry Work Experience

Earlier this year, I was one of 10 students to undertake work experience at the sustainable and innovative community development of Ginninderry, located on the northwestern border between the ACT and NSW. This community, which hopes to be “a sustainable community of international significance” (Ginninderry, 2022), plans to house 30,000 people over the next 30 years (Ginninderry, 2022).

Figure 1. Map of the Ginninderry development at Strathnairn, where our work experience took place. (Credit: Ginninderry, 2022)

As part of the effort to mitigate the loss of biodiversity that is usually associated with urban expansion (Luck & Smallbone, 2010), the Ginninderry Conservation Trust has developed the Weed Management Plan. This plan includes the management processes of weed survey, inventory, monitoring and surveillance, and management (Eland et al., 2021). The work experience undertaken by ANU students involved the identification and manual removal of weeds with a residential section of the suburb. Following this, we took part in revegetating the area by planting native shrub species, with the long term goal of restoring native habitat and so encouraging native birds, lizards and insects into the residential green space area.

Figure 2. Tea tree (Melaleuca alternifolia) which was used to revegetate weeded areas as a component of our work experience. (Credit: Stephen Bain, 2008)

This removal of invasive weeds and the introduction or reintroduction of native species, as undertaken during our work experience, is important for several reasons. Firstly, they assist in the preservation of local biodiversity and provide stepping stones for fauna in urbanised environments. They can help us in understanding environmental change, provide environmental education and ecosystem system services, and improve human well being (Dearborn & Kark, 2010).

Individual Actions to Promote Urban Biodiversity

As individuals, we can also take action to improve biodiversity in our suburbs and cities. Gardens features can be curated to encourage use by native species, and so assist in the conservation of biodiversity (Van Helden et al., 2020). In addition, participation in citizen science projects (Couvet et al., 2013), volunteering for local wildlife programs, supporting local farmers and products (Yale Office of Sustainability, 2020), and limiting the use of pesticides (​​Brühl & Zaller, 2019) are all actions which we as individuals can implement to help preserve and improve biodiversity in our local area.

So, while predicted population growth in the ACT has made increased urbanisation an inevitability, the cost to biodiversity can be minimised through a combination of effective and sustainable urban planning and actions that we take as individuals.

References

Allen, C. 2021. Canberra’s population is set to nearly double within 40 years — but one developer wants it to grow even larger. ABC News, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-22/act-population-set-to-double-leaving-canberrans-divided/100389274 [Accessed: 22 October 2022]

Brühl, C.A. and Zaller, J.G., 2019. Biodiversity decline as a consequence of an inappropriate environmental risk assessment of pesticides. Frontiers in Environmental Science, p.177.

Concepción, E.D., Moretti, M., Altermatt, F., Nobis, M.P. and Obrist, M.K., 2015. Impacts of urbanisation on biodiversity: the role of species mobility, degree of specialisation and spatial scale. Oikos, 124(12), pp.1571-1582.

Couvet, D., Jiguet, F., Julliard, R., Levrel, H. and Teyssedre, A., 2008. Enhancing citizen contributions to biodiversity science and public policy. Interdisciplinary science reviews, 33(1), pp.95-103.

Dearborn, D.C. and Kark, S., 2010. Motivations for conserving urban biodiversity. Conservation biology, 24(2), pp.432-440.

Eland, R., Cummings, J. & Calliess, A., 2021. Ginninderry Conservation Corridor Weed Management Plan. Ginninderry Conservation Trust, https://biodiversityconservationblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/441ce-weedmanagementplan_final.pdf

Gairola, S. and Noresah, M.S., 2010. Emerging trend of urban green space research and the implications for safeguarding biodiversity: a viewpoint. Nature and science, 8(7), pp.43-49.

Luck, G.W. and Smallbone, L.T., 2010. Species diversity and urbanisation: patterns, drivers and implications. Urban ecology, pp.88-119.

Van Helden, B.E., Close, P.G. and Steven, R., 2020. Mammal conservation in a changing world: can urban gardens play a role?. Urban Ecosystems, 23(3), pp.555-567.

Yale Office of Sustainability, 2020. 6 Ways to Preserve Biodiversity. Yale Sustainability, https://sustainability.yale.edu/blog/6-ways-preserve-biodiversity [Accessed: 22 October 2022]