Case Studies

Case studies

We are building up a resource of case studies from our network showcasing different aspects of the journey towards Nature Positive. Together we are much more than the sum of our parts and we invite you to share your activities with us and learn from each other.

 

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"Plantar o Futuro" project with Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal
As part of the "Plantar o Futuro" project, UAveiro’s students, employees and teachers can adopt oak, holly, alder and other native trees, take care of them for two months and, with the arrival of spring, deliver them to the ground thinking about the future. Through this project, thousands of trees have already been planted in the Buçaco National Forest and in the municipalities of Albergaria-a-Velha, Lousada and Estarreja, also contributing to raising awareness and educating hundreds of university students about sustainability. Organized by UAveiro and the Agora Aveiro association, the initiative, also counts on the participation of municipalities, associations and local industry. In the present edition, the Agora Aveiro volunteers have created a digital guide so that you can learn a little more about the species, as well as curiosities and information about invasive species in Portugal and their impact.
“Meet the floral visitors of FAUBA”, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina
“Meet the floral visitors of FAUBA” is a project developed by teachers and scholarship holders from the Faculty of Agronomy. The objective is to disseminate information about the diversity of animals that use the resources offered by the plants of the Faculty, as well as aspects linked to their behavior, life cycle, nesting site and ecological role with emphasis on pollination. The project is linked to the beds of native plants of the Buenos Aires region called biological corridors, installed on the Faculty property. These represent observation points for floral visitors by offering them food resources and nesting sites.
A pocket forest in Los Angeles as a habitat for biodiversity and a base for scientific research and education at CIEDM, United States
California Institute of Environmental Design and Management (CIEDM), an education and research center in Los Angeles, California, led by Dr. Edward Huang, has engaged various activities to enhance positive impacts on nature. At Arcadia Ecohome, a CIEDM project site, they have worked on ecological restoration by growing a densely planted pocket forest with a variety of plant species including biodiversity anchors such as oak trees. The site has served as an observation station for several community/citizen science projects, a lab for habitability experiments, and an educational venue for showcasing its features as a certified Wildlife Habitat, Pollinator Habitat, Monarch Waystation, and Bee-friendly Farm.
Acting for sustainability in human and natural ecosystems in a conflict zone
The Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability at Bethlehem University has developed management plans for four protected areas and restored habitats and protected species. This led to the institute being trusted to lead on creation of the new Protected Area Network (27 areas) for Palestine. The institution has also led the effort to formulate the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan.
Bat protection initiative at Université de Béjaïa, Algeria
A first initiative of its kind concerning the protection of bats in Algeria. A cave hosting 11 of the 26 Algerian bat species was recently protected by the municipality, and it was given the name of Jiri Gaisler, a Czech Professor with a significant history of work in Algeria. A workshop on the importance of bats for forests, agriculture and public health was also organised by the Algerian Bat Group, an organization soon to be officially recognised by authorities. This workshop also involved large participation by students, raising awareness of these important species.
Bioblitz at University of Turku, Finland
The Biodiversity Unit hosted a BioBlitz event on May 21st-22nd 2022. A Bioblitz is an event that focuses on finding and identifying as many species as possible in a specific area over a short time, 24 hours. Scientists, students, teachers, families and other community members worked together to get a snapshot of an area’s biodiversity.
Biodiversity on Mount Royal: Polytechnique committed to heightening canopy to protect Heritage Site at Polytechnique de Montréal, Canada
To reconnect the Polytechnique campus with Mount Royal, Polytechnique included a greening project within its major campus development project. The required governmental approval process is ongoing and Polytechnique has been working to secure the required permits. According to the latest projections, the targets of 40 removed parking spots and 25% canopy for the major project site should be met, and even exceeded. Since November 23 2022, Polytechnique has taken part in promoting “Les amis de la montagne”’s awareness campaign: “Protecting everything that lives on Mount Royal”, a Heritage Site. Comic strip episodes are shared on its social media.
Bird friendly buildings at UBC, Canada
Vancouver’s shiny, tall, mirror-like buildings are an attractive and much-photographed sight. So too is the local wildlife, with Vancouver boasting one of the highest densities of wintering birds of any Canadian city. Unfortunately, the combination can turn those beautiful reflective glass windows into bird killers. See how UBC community members are flocking together to bird-proof campus buildings.
Blühender Campus, Freie Universität Berlin
“Blühender Campus” (Blooming Campus) is an interdisciplinary initiative started in order to focus more on biodiversity. It unites projects and actors who have the aim to encourage biological diversity on campus. The focus of the work is the upgrading of the green and lawn areas that were mowed up to nine times a year in 2019. The mowing of all areas has been significantly reduced since 2020 (depending on the weather and use only about five times) and pauses across campus during the early flowering phase in April. In a pilot project, some very different, species-rich flowering areas are currently being created on around eight hectares.
Impetus for the teaching concept: Seeland secondary school in Biel, with little shade, seating or greenery. Students came up with ideas for improvement. Such case studies eventually resulted in the development of Campus4Biodiversity as a teaching concept.
Campus4Biodiversity provides future stakeholders in the building sector with knowledge, tools and networks so that they can work to increase biodiversity in urban spaces at Bern University of Applied Sciences, Switzerland
Together with scaling4good, BFH-AHB (Campus Biel) is developing a transformative teaching approach for increasing biodiversity in urban areas for universities of applied sciences and universities with specialisations in the construction sector. In doing so, we are working together with a local partner. The concept is based on the experiences from two experimental teaching projects at BFH-AHB, "Mission AH*B" & "Campus4Biodiversity", and the experiences from the scaling4good project "Shaping nature in settlements".

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Resources

We are developing tools and guidance for each stage of the Nature Positive Pledge. We will provide links to all reports and documentation here as we develop them. We encourage you to make the Pledge and join the other Founding universities who are starting this journey. We would love to hear how you have approached each aspect of the Pledge so we can share it with our wider network and inspire change. 

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