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Vortragende Person/Vortragende Personen:
Jordi Jofre-Monseny (Universitat de Barcelona)

Is urbanization good for biodiversity and its conservation?

Abstract: Being critical for human’s well-being, biodiversity and nature are declining in most parts of the globe. In this paper I study how population density and urbanization affect biodiversity and its conservation. Using granular data from Spain, I estimate the long-run effect of population density on 1) the designation of areas that have been scientifically identified as valuable for bird conservation (Important Bird Areas) and 2) the legal protection of these areas under the EU Birds Directive (Special Protection Areas). My results indicate that biodiversity (measured as the land share identified as an Important Bird Area) is decreasing with density because of two factors. First, density induces changes in land use patterns that negatively affect biodiversity. Second, the quality of all habitat types is decreasing with population density. Furthermore, the share of valuable habitat that is protected (the Important Bird Area share designated as Special Protection Area) is also decreasing with population density, indicating that density negatively affects nature conservation. I conduct a counterfactual exercise to assess if urbanization, understood as the concentration of population in urban areas, is good or bad for biodiversity and its conservation. My results indicate that the concentration of population in urban areas is good for biodiversity and nature conservation although the net effects are modest in size. These results are indicative that urban life is greener when it comes to global biodiversity and its conservation.

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