Protecting China’s major urban bird diversity hotspots

Li, Li; Yan, Mingxiao; Hong, Yixuan; Feng, Weijia; Xie, Dong; Pagani-Núñez, Emilio

Abstract

The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework puts forward a new conservation target to enhance urban biodiversity. Cities have a great potential for sustaining biodiversity and nurturing a healthy relationship between people and our nearest nature. It is especially important in developing countries such as China, which has a rich biodiversity and a rapidly growing urban population. Using citizen science data, we show that 48% of the national bird diversity and 42% of its threatened species have been recorded in the top-20 most avian-diverse cities of China. Urban bird diversity hotspots clustered along the eastern coast, indicating the importance of establishing an inter-city conservation network along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway. This urban conservation network would be a starting point to promote social recognition of biodiversity’s relational value in a country with a vast population and an increasingly important role in meeting UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Sep 25, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Oct 26, 2023
• Publication Date: 2024
• Deposit Date: Oct 27, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 27, 2023
• Print ISSN: 0044-7447
• Electronic ISSN: 1654-7209
• Publisher: Springer
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 53
• Pages: 339-350
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-023-01943-z
• Keywords: Bird conservation, Convention on biological diversity, COP 15, GBF Target 12, Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, Urban biodiversity
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/3224033