Urban Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
Urban Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (URBES) is a BiodivERsA-funded EU project for investigating ecosystem services and biodiversity in urban areas. The project is funded for three years, starting in August 2012 until the end of 2014.
URBES project members include the Stockholm Resilience Centre, the Dutch Research Institute For Transitions Rotterdam, the ICLEI European Secretariat Freiburg, the Institute for World Economy in Kiel, the IUCN in Brussels, the Technical University Munich, the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, the University of Salzburg, the New School New York and the University of Helsinki.
In the case study cities Berlin, Rotterdam, Stockholm, Salzburg, Barcelona and New York, URBES analyses ecosystem services, biodiversity and urban green areas using Urban Atlas data, focusing in particular on climate change and its future impacts, demographics as well as land-use changes. In collaboration with local stakeholders and decision-makers, URBES additionally implements scenarios of future urban land-use.