Healthy and Biodiverse Cities: A Green Effort for Latin America and the Caribbean

The cities of Latin America and the Caribbean play a fundamental role in protecting and strengthening the health of their residents. In a context marked by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the exacerbation of climate change and its consequences on social, economic and environmental dynamics, urban centers face a series of urgent challenges.

We also know that our region is the most urbanized region in the world, with 80 percent of its people living in cities, and where the processes of disorganization and lack of planning have led to 1 out of every 4 people living in marginal areas.

The loss of lives, the erosion of jobs and commercial activities, as well as the relocation of people and homes, among other effects of the pandemic, have set new dynamics in cities that, while still difficult to predict in their ultimate dimension, allow establishing a system of priorities in their physical, spatial and sanitary aspects.

From a physical and spatial perspective, cities must offer infrastructure and equipment that encourages and facilitates the development of a healthy life by their residents. The correct provision of sanitation and drinking water services, together with an adequate healthcare network, is essential, especially in terms of accessibility for the most unprotected or disenfranchised population. In addition, it is important to provide public—mainly green—spaces, to facilitate the development of physical, recreation and leisure activities, as well as to promote the physical and mental health of all people.

Cities should also promote healthy environments that facilitate access to adequate food, and that are free of hearing, visual and noise pollution. But, fundamentally, they must ensure a balance between urban growth and the protection and restoration of biodiversity, insofar as natural ecosystems and the variety of living beings that inhabit them are essential for life.

Faced with these challenges, CAF—development bank of Latin America—promotes different initiatives to comprehensively address these three aspects related to urban planning, healthcare, and the environment in cities.

One of them is our flagship program, the Network of BiodiverCities of Latin America and the Caribbean, which seeks to reinforce the design and implementation of plans and policies that consider urban development in line with protection of biodiversity, at the level of local governments. With concrete benefits such as flood control, water supply, mitigation of high or low temperatures, CO2 absorption, and pest control, among others, the main goal of the BiodiverCities Network is to restore the balance between urban management and natural resources.

In this regard, on November 28, we will hold the last regional meeting of the year in Tierra del Fuego together with the highest authorities of more than 30 cities in Latin America and the Caribbean, specialists in areas such as urban management, environment, preservation and care of biodiversity, as well as academics and authorities of the private sector.

The second initiative in this area is Healthy Cities, which materializes this year with the publication and launch, on December 2, of our Guide for Healthier Cities. The document will be presented at the Scientific and Technological Pole of the City of Buenos Aires, and seeks to integrate all aspects of urban life under a conceptual and methodological approach, which allows designing policies aimed at improving the health and quality of life of people.

With this initiative, we intend to help the region in the planning of city models that harmonize economic and social development with the preservation of nature, through better policies for the benefit of the health and fulfillment of the people of our continent.