Biodiversity Friendly Cities (Biofriendly City) as a New Concept Against Climate Change.

In the UN development report, it is stated that by the year 2050, nearly 70% of the global population will begin to live in urban areas. As a result of this, due to the increasing urban population both globally and in our country, various urbanization movements have emerged, leading to:

• Rapid loss of urban green spaces and agricultural lands.
• In cities, a multitude of environmental issues are being experienced, including transportation, infrastructure, energy, health, nutrition problems, air pollution, visual pollution, and solid waste,
• Inadequate open and green spaces, obstruction of wind corridors, misguided urban planning, and the increasing reflection of light from glass and shiny surfaces in urban spaces contribute to the formation of urban heat islands,
• Insufficient attention to natural and ecological thresholds in physical development results in cities suffering from difficult-to-reverse damage to natural ecosystems, rendering them vulnerable to disasters.

Urbanization leads to the deterioration of productive landscape areas such as urban green spaces and agricultural lands, fragmenting habitats and increasing pressure on urban biodiversity. Climate change scenarios, which are currently relevant and are expected to become a significant environmental issue in the future, are predicted to have ecological, economic, and sociological implications for urban ecosystems. Therefore, sustainability takes precedence in all urban planning decisions and physical developments. There is a growing need to maintain and expand biological diversity for more livable cities.

Urbanization destroys or alters local habitats while creating new infrastructure. Due to these changes, non-native species are gradually decreasing in urban landscapes. However, cities also give rise to diverse habitats and species, and especially in temperate cities, the diversity of vascular plants and birds can surpass that of surrounding landscapes. Nonetheless, the actual formation of a species depends on habitat presence and quality, spatial arrangements of habitats, species pools, the adaptability of a species, and its natural history and area history (Müller et al., 2013).

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), global temperatures have already risen by 1.1°C, and this change is progressing towards 1.5°C. In recent years, significant efforts have been made by the United Nations (UN) to mitigate the pressures of climate change on both natural and cultural environments.

To mitigate the adverse effects of climate change on ecosystems:

• The Quito Declaration on Sustainable Cities and Human Settlements was established in 2016 in Ecuador.
• Focusing on environmental sustainability, well-connected open spaces, accessibility, safe green areas, and resilient urban planning and practices.
• Improving and preserving urban ecosystems and environmental factors.
• Protecting sensitive productive areas for sustainable land use, preserving urban agricultural areas, ensuring food security, and reducing environmental issues.
• Decisions were made to protect urban agricultural areas and enhance urban biodiversity.
• The Paris Agreement (COP21) was adopted in 2015 with the participation of 194 countries.
• The UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) took place in Glasgow in 2021.
• The 27th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change was held in 2022 in Egypt with the participation of 190 countries. During this meeting, it was decided to develop action plans to keep global climate change at 1.5 degrees Celsius by the end of the century. Additionally, targets were set to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 43% by 2030, prevent deforestation, and provide financial support to developing countries for climate change impacts.