BiodiverCity: Addressing Environment Disasters through Healthier Cities

The climate crisis. Mass extinctions. Dead zones in the ocean. Deadly pollution. A global pandemic. The dominant paradigm in the world is that economics matters above all else and that our planet is an endless source of resources with an endless capacity to absorb waste. The extractionist mentality is killing life on our planet and endangering our future survival. The mentality also assumes that cities will be polluted, congested, unpleasant places to live.

The world is in crisis, and we need to rethink our cities in order to reduce rather than worsen these and other environmental hazards and crises. A wiser approach would look at the earth as our home, one that we value, respect, and care for. A wiser approach would look at ways to improve quality of life in our cities not through greater material wellbeing but rather through creating a healthier environment that nurtures human and other life.

A BiodiverCITY is a city that seeks environmental solutions to our many problems and that values the environment and health over money. A BiodiverCITY enacts plans and policies that protect and restore the environment rather than encouraging and inviting polluting industry. A BiodiverCITY uses urban biodesign to meet human needs in environmentally-friendly ways and creates Green Jobs to put these plans into practice. A BiodiverCITY understands that corporations must be held responsible for the damage they cause.

This conference, attached to the Ecocity World Summit 2021 in Rotterdam, offers an opportunity to share knowledge, experience, and ideas among policymakers, practitioners and academicians. The conference will be organized virtually from 29-30 September 2021.

Nepali organizers:  Centre for Disaster Studies, Institute of Engineering, Pulchowk Campus; Society of Environmental Engineers in Nepal; DigoBikas Institute

Bangladeshi organizers: Work for a Better Bangladesh (WBB) Trust; Institute of Wellbeing

International organizers: Ecocity Builders; HealthBridge Foundation of Canada