Greening cities as nature-based solution and their impact on vectors and vector-borne disease risks – BIODIVECITY

Urbanization is increasing globally and is frequently associated with environmental disruptions that result in pollution, flooding, extreme heat, and biodiversity loss. The greening of cities represents a nature-based solution (NBS) that helps to promote sustainable cities. There is much evidence of the positive impact of green cities on people's health and well-being. Moreover, they contribute to the mitigation of climate change (e.g. by reducing heat island effects) and to restoring biodiversity. However, urban greening can also have an impact on the ecology of blood-feeding arthropods (e.g. mosquitoes, sandflies), and therefore on vector-borne diseases (e.g. West Nile fever, dengue, leishmaniasis). Indeed, the creation of new urban green zones can provide a suitable habitat for native vector species, but may also favour the introduction and establishment of invasive species (e.g. the tiger mosquito Aedes albopictus). In addition, it may affect access to a potential host or favour resting sites close to blood meal sources. Conversely, if properly designed, these areas could help to sustainably reduce the risk of vector-borne diseases in cities, by promoting risk dilution effects, but many of these effects have not been well established. Besides the promotion of urban greening in the public domain, there is also a call for establishing more green-blue space in the private domain (e.g. in gardens) to provide a more biodiverse environment. The relative contribution of vector proliferation in either the public or the private green space will have important ramifications for vector surveillance and control approaches. Hence there is a need to better understand the relative contribution of public and private green spaces to the proliferation of pests that may be harmful for human and animal well-being. The BIODIVECITY project will therefore explore the relationships between Urban Green Spaces (UGS) and blood-feeding arthropod biodiversity, as well as their implications for vector-borne disease transmission. We have formed a unique, multidisciplinary consortium (with partners from The Netherlands, France, Spain and Morocco) within which we are able to make comparisons across major urban centers in Europe. The consortium will develop a harmonized protocol for standardized ecological surveys, organize participatory workshops and citizen science activities to collect evidence on the impacts of urban greening on vector-borne disease risks and collaboratively develop policy guidelines and recommendations for mitigating potential disease risks. To address the multiple facets of urban greening, urban planners, policy makers, health stakeholders’ representatives, and civil society will be involved in the project. This will allow knowledge exchange and facilitate mutual learning, thereby ensuring the unique ability to derive transnational conclusions and policy recommendations.