Regional Biodiversity Strategy - Ruhrgebiet

The Ruhr Regional Biodiversity Strategy was adopted in June 2022 by the assembly of the Ruhr Regional Association (RVR). The aim of the strategy is to formulate regionally coordinated goals and measures for the protection and enhancement of biodiversity in the Metropole Ruhr and to guide future measures. The Ruhrgebiet is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany that is Europe's third-largest conurbation, with more than of 4,438 km² and over 5 million people living in 53 cities and municipalities. As such, this strategy has an extensive focus on urban areas as important areas for biodiversity. The strategy is divided into ten thematic fields, giving focus to the industrial areas of the region and wilderness in urban areas, amongst other topics.

Overview

Type of instrument:

Legislative, regulatory and strategic instruments›Sectoral strategy, plan, or law

Challenges addressed

Ecologic connectivity
Water management (e.g. reuse)
Green space management (e.g. accessibility)
Watershed restoration/water quality
Flood risk: pluvial and fluvial / soil permeability
Heat stress and heat island effect
Reconnection to the biosphere / environmental education
Human health, comfort and well-being

Consideration of nature-based solutions:

The strategy identifies a variety of measures to counter the loss of local biodiversity and to support regional resilience towards climate change impacts. Such measures include the promotion and improvement of structurally and species-rich private gardens, open spaces, commercial premises, cemeteries, edge stripes and parks as well as land recycling and unsealing within the settlement area. In the urban context, it further seeks to increase the proportion of vertical greening (e.g. by greening of facades and roofs, or additional rows of trees) and the area of urban forests. The strategy also addresses fragmentation issues and climate adaptation in peri-urban and rural areas.

Targeted (peri-)urban areas:

Parks and (semi)natural urban green areas

Allotments, community gardens or agricultural areas

Blue areas

Green areas for water management

Derelict areas

External building greens

Urban green space connected to grey infrastructure

Good practice characteristics:

Sustainable in the long-term

Locally appropriate

Innovative

Inclusivity

Governance

Government body/bodies

Initiating body:

Regionalverband Ruhr

Instrument design:

Details about how the instrument was designed:

The Regional Biodiversity Strategy Ruhr Area has been funded by the state government since mid-2020 as a sub-project of the "Green Infrastructure Offensive 2030" of the Ruhr Regional Association (RVR) on the basis of a project proposal. The strategy was developed by a consortium of the Biological Station Westliches Ruhrgebiet (BSWR) as well as the University of Duisburg-Essen and the Ruhr University Bochum under the leadership of the Regionalverband Ruhr (RVR). The Regional Biodiversity Strategy Ruhr Area is the result of an intensive analysis and discussion process lasting more than two years. Experts, NGOs and interested citizens participated in over 10 workshops (over 200 participants). The first drafts were further subjected to a broad participation process.

Involvement of non-governmental actors:

Public sector institution (e.g. school or hospital)

Researchers, university

Citizens or community groups / NGOs

Type of actor involvement:

Expert task force consultation

Civil society consultation through e.g. workshops, surveys

Instrument implementation:

Type of involvement:

The strategy promotes participation processes, such as through the initiation and establishment of citizen science projects ("Biodiversity Days" or comparable events such as BioBlitz events that take place worldwide), or through community gardens, participation offers in the design of parks, etc. It further intends to create a network on the topic of "nature experience spaces". In the context of environmental education, the strategy implements excursions, social media activities, competitions, plant-exchange-formats, expert exchanges and consultancy work, partnerships and other information campaigns.

Type of non-governmental actors involved:

Citizen councils or consultation for co-planning (e.g. workshops, surveys)

Co-design of NBS, implemented by government

Implementation of NBS (e.g. with government funds)

Citizen science

Targeted actors:

Public sector institution (e.g. school or hospital)

Private: household, real estate developer, business , financial

Researchers, university

Citizens or community groups (CBOs), NGOs

Financing

Sources of funding:

Public regional budget

Monitoring, evaluation and impacts

Is a monitoring framework in place?:

Yes

Until the end of the year 2022, a monitoring concept will be developed under the leadership of the Regionalverband Ruhr, with the participation of the State Agency for Nature, the lower nature conservation authorities, the biological stations in the Ruhr region and other experts. The monitoring has two goals: (1) to detect changes in biodiversity in the Ruhr area at an early stage and (2) to check the effectiveness of measures. The monitoring concept will further define the data requirements, flows and collection and assessment. In addition, the measures that serve to implement the biodiversity strategy will be checked for their effectiveness. This way, the success of measures can be identified and - if needed - adjusted to increase their success.

Did an evaluation take place?:

Yes

A working group is to be set up to accompany the project ensuring a coordinated approach. Based on this, the strategy will be revised and adjusted every 5 years.

Achieved outcomes and impacts:

As the strategy was only adopted in 2022, there are no outcomes or impacts available yet.

Success factors and lessons learned:

The central feature of this strategy is that it is not restricted to traditional municipal or regional boundaries, but rather targets the needs and characteristics of a functional entity: the largest conurbation of Germany. This allows a specific and interconnected approach, not only for one individual city, but for its larger surrounding. In addition, one of the key elements of this strategy is to foster broad participation, which already started in the design phase of the strategy and includes a wide range of innovative participation processes during its implementation. This involves, inter alia, the initiation and establishment of citizen science projects ("Biodiversity Days" or comparable events such as BioBlitz events that take place worldwide), participation offers in the design of parks, nature experience spaces, etc.

Sources and further information

References

List of references:

Netwerk Urbane Biodiversität (2022). Regionale Biodiversitätsstrategie Ruhrgebiet. Available at: https://urbane-biodiversitaet.de/biodiversitaetsstrategie.html (Accessed: 30 August 2022)

Keil, P.; Hering, D. & Bothmann, F. (Hrsg.) (2022). Regionale Biodiversitätsstrategie Ruhrgebiet - Netzwerk Urbane Biodiversität Ruhrgebiet. Oberhausen, Essen. 92 S.

Wikipedia (2022). Ruhr. Available at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruhr (Accessed: 30 August 2022)

Photos

@ K. Rohweder auf Unsplash