How San Francisco is driving urban biodiversity solutions for a greener future

San Francisco is home to a unique and iconic natural heritage that attracts people worldwide. The parks, natural areas and open spaces host hundreds of plants and animals in a diversity of ecosystems, contributing significantly to the city’s urban biodiversity. These include Indigenous plants, animals and species found nowhere else, such as the Franciscan Manzanita and Mission Blue Butterfly.

However, ongoing climate change and biodiversity loss threaten our planet’s and city’s health and well-being, making preserving urban biodiversity crucial.

Thankfully, San Francisco is poised to cultivate resilience for people and nature today and for future generations. By empowering people and partnerships to promote, enjoy and restore nature in every community, we can strengthen the city’s ecological health and resilience to climate change.

Through the coalition Reimagining San Francisco, commitments on urban nature and climate resilience through the C40 Urban Nature Accelerator and a new pledge with 1t.org, the city is more committed than ever to collaborating with community-based organizations, non-profits and educational institutions to enhance San Francisco as a city where people and nature thrive together.

Amongst leading peer cities in the C40 Urban Nature Accelerator, San Francisco stands out for its civic engagement in urban nature regeneration.

The city is delivering on Urban Nature Accelerator pathways by increasing the total cover of quality green spaces and ensuring that these spaces are equitably distributed.

In 2017, San Francisco became the first city where every resident is within a 10-minute walk of open park space, aligning with the 15-minute city concept. At the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15) in Montreal, Canada, San Francisco shared and workshopped with other C40 city peers to further disseminate knowledge about these successes and challenges. C40 anticipates continued city-to-city collaboration at COP16 in 2024 in Cali, Colombia.

Nature serves as a vital buffer protecting San Franciscans and city infrastructure from extreme heat, flooding, drought, sea-level rise and storms. San Francisco was built for its temperate coastal climate, making it particularly vulnerable to extreme heat. Our buildings and related infrastructure need to be better adapted to increasing temperatures.

Global warming will raise sea levels around the San Francisco Bay by three to six feet or more by the end of this century. Coupled with more extreme weather patterns, approximately four square miles of San Francisco land are at risk of temporary or permanent flooding, affecting over 37,000 people, 170,000 jobs and essential infrastructure.

Numerous studies have shown clear evidence of the mental and physical benefits of spending time in natural environments. During the pandemic, when indoor gatherings were restricted, access to green spaces was crucial for community health and resilience. A robust network of healthy ecosystems is essential for physical protection and resilience and for maintaining the city’s urban biodiversity.

Beginning in the 1980s with regulations to protect wildlife in city parks and the Environmental Protection Element of the General Plan, the city has progressively implemented policies and initatives to conserve natural resources, restore ecosystems and educate the public.

Since 2006, the city has been implementing the Recreation and Park Department’s Natural Resource Areas Management Plan by restoring habitat across 32 natural areas, including creek and lake ecosystems in the city’s major parks.

In 2017 and 2018, the Environment Commission and Board of Supervisors passed resolutions that adopted citywide biodiversity goals and a biodiverse city vision. The 2021 Climate Action Plan completed the vision with a robust Healthy Ecosystems Chapter and 32 actions. The 2017 Citywide Biodiversity Goals include:

The 2023 Biodiversity Guidelines mandate that municipal construction projects support the city’s biodiversity goals. In 2023, San Francisco secured $12 million from the Inflation Reduction Act to plant 3,500 street trees, enhance canopy cover in parks in communities and support our City Street Tree Nursery and its workforce development initiative.

The Port of San Francisco just completed the restoration of the living shoreline in an environmentally burdened community where local youth can now participate and be trained in ecological stewardship.

Plans include installing native plant gardens at public housing and daylighting creeks. These various policy implementations reflect a collaborative, multi-faceted approach to integrating biodiversity considerations into urban planning and projects and fostering a sustainable environment for future generations.

The City of San Francisco’s 1t.org pledge and C40 commitments are part of global, national and citywide alliances committed to enhancing urban ecological health and ensuring equitable access to local nature. We aim for all San Franciscans to experience nature daily and help steward the city’s natural heritage, restoring its biodiverse, climate-resilient ecosystems throughout natural and built environments.

San Francisco’s 1t.org pledge includes growing 30,000 street trees to establish a fully stocked street tree network and aims to make 30% of the city’s green space biodiverse by 2030. San Francisco intends to amend its Climate Action Plan to include metrics supporting tracking the progress of the 1t.org pledge and our C40 commitments. To that end, the 2023 Desired Outcomes of the recently constituted Reimagining San Francisco alliance are measurable objectives that build on the citywide biodiversity goals:

Through this comprehensive vision and pledges to action, San Francisco reaffirms its commitment to a future where nature and urban life harmoniously coexist. By enhancing biodiversity, fostering equitable access to natural spaces and bolstering community engagement, San Francisco sets a transformative example for urban sustainability.

Commitments such as 1t.org pledges and the C40 Urban Nature Accelerator serve as a fundamental anchor to mobilize private sector engagement and ambition in forest conservation and restoration, facilitates multistakeholder dialogues in key geographies, and supports innovation, ecopreneurship and youth to incentivize and accelerate restoration.

We stand ready for nature and encourage other city leaders and businesses to follow this restorative path for the benefit of citizens, our planet and global prosperity.

This article is part of "Nature Positive: Leaders’ Insights for the Transition in Cities," a collection of articles by the Global Commission on Nature-Positive Cities offering a range of strategies and practical solutions adaptable to diverse urban environments and supporting a shift towards nature-positive city developments.

Nature-Positive Cities is an initiative by the World Economic Forum, in collaboration with Oliver Wyman.