After the lockdown ended, Barcelona decided to embrace the wild side of the city by building bat boxes and insect hotels to help enrich biodiversity.
During the weeks of lockdown in many parts of the world, nature has taken the opportunity to finally take back its spaces. In some cities, the blocking of traffic and activities has led to truly surprising effects, as happened in Barcelona, Spain, where plants and insects managed to grow and reproduce undisturbed in streets, parks and flower beds. Thus, after the end of the lockdown, the Catalan capital has decided to embrace the wild side of the city to encourage the enrichment of biodiversity.
According to the data provided by theUrban Butterfly Monitoring Scheme, between May and June 2020 in Barcelona the species present in the parks increased by 28%, while the number of butterflies has even grown by 74% compared to the same period in 2019. And some species of butterflies, including the grayling (Hipparchia semele) and the lesser purple emperor butterfly (Apatura ilia) were first spotted in the city.
ZOONEWS ?
Rain and confinement trigger butterfly populations in Barcelona> between May and June there were 28% more different species and 74% more numerous than in 2019 https://t.co/zLvhXm8IfL via @agencia_sinc #Zoología #Biodiversidad #Barcelona pic.twitter.com/APxKY8ZGLz
– CRCiencia (@CRCiencia) November 5, 2020
New green areas, hives and nesting towers for birds and bats
When the gardeners returned to work after weeks of closure, they were faced with a dilemma: to restore everything as it was before, uprooting and pruning plants, or to indulge nature?
The city of Barcelona, which for some time had been designing a plan for the growth of urban greenery, has opted for the second alternative to offer fresh air and natural spaces to citizens. The Catalan capital has announced that it will create 783.300 square meters of green areas, including a space around the Sagrada Familía basilica, and 49.000 square meters of more sustainable streets.
Barcelona also intends to encourage the spread of birds and insects through theinstallation of around 200 nesting towers for birds and bat boxes for bats, 40 hives and 80 plantations designed as insect hotels.
“In a city like Barcelona, it's about replacing what exists with green infrastructure,” explains Lorena Escuer, who runs Hydrobiology, a company that deals with natural parasites. “It's not just about having a park surrounded by asphalt, but about introducing nature to the city. People need to be re-educated. Their idea of a clean space is linked to the absence of life, to a dead ecosystem. This idea has spread that nature is something external to the city ".
With the arrival of them, the insects, are also looking for "hotels" to spend this summer season. Today at @EstaEsMiTierra_ we return to @parquedelagua, where we have some little hotels set up, but at 50% capacity because of #SocialDistancing pic.twitter.com/L88eQUQ8R0
— Hidrobiology (@Hidrobiology) June 22, 2020
But giving more space to nature in the city does not mean abandoning the maintenance works, but re-adapting them to protect biodiversity.
"Some people believe that rewilding is an excuse for local authorities not to carry out maintenance and cut the work, but they are wrong," Escuer points out. "These spaces have to be managed but not in the traditional way, which means that gardeners also need to be re-educated."
Adherence of the local group WWF Barcelona to the manifesto in DEFENSE of Green and #Biodiversity in the city of Barcelona #RenaturalitzemBCNhttps://t.co/wOJXeBR5ct#SomosNaturaleza @WWFespanahttps://t.co/udXbsn6rHK pic.twitter.com/6FoZU3pG7c
— Local Group WWF Barcelona (@wwfbarcelona) May 26, 2020
In short, if in many respects the lockdown had a negative impact on society, on the other hand it taught us to look at nature with new eyes and to appreciate it more. We hope that other cities will also take inspiration from Barcelona to protect biodiversity and allow citizens to breathe deeply.
Fonte: The Guardian/Twitter
Read also:
- With the lockdown we are saving bees: wild flowers are popping up in cities around the world
- Trees and greenery in the city are more important than ever (especially during a pandemic)
- The Champs-Élysées of Paris will become an extraordinary garden
