LOCAL ACTION
FOR BIODIVERSITYA SERIES OF LOCAL CASES

Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Conserving biodiversity through careful local and regional
planning
SUMMARY: Amsterdam is home to a large variety of fauna and ﬂora and the city goes to great lengths tomaintain the status quo. There are approximately 200,000 trees in the city’s open spaces, and the collageof interconnected landscapes provides a home to many wild animals, including 140 species of birds 34
mammal species, 60 ﬁsh species, 6 species of frog and salamanders, as well as the grass snake.

Biodiversity & biodiversity management in the City of Amsterdam
Every four years the municipality draws up an environmental policy plan. The policy plan for 2007 – 2010
deﬁned the aims of the environmental policy as making Amsterdam a clean and pleasant place to live. The
policy focussed on pollution reduction, energy conservation, waste separation and water conservation. Anotherimportant aspect of the environmental policy is soil remediation, as sinking groundwater levels cause soil
subsidence thus making it difﬁcult for trees to grow in the city.

The importance of trees in Amsterdam
The citizens of Amsterdam treasure their trees, despite the fact that the growth medium, often consistingof sand brought in from elsewhere, is not always the most suitable for trees. Old trees and trees of special
signiﬁcance have been catalogued in a number of city boroughs and the city’s central government has publisheda ‘Manual for Monumental Trees’.
Certain city boroughs have evenappointed a special committee
who comprise not only tree
consultants, but also local
residents. These committees give
advice on tree-cutting requests.
The utmost is done to retain trees
within the boroughs. Sometimes
construction plans are altered tokeep a tree from being uprooted,
trees are temporarily moved, or
if it can’t be helped, trees aretransplanted elsewhere in thecity.
In 2004, the ﬁrst ‘Integral Mains
and Cables Tunnel was built
Lomanstraat: trees growing under difﬁcult circumstances require special attention
in the Netherlands, along theMahlerlaan in Amsterdam. This
concrete tunnel is high enough to negate digging up the street in order to carry out repairs and inspections.
Above the tunnel, 100 Silver Maples were planted in a special soil mixture more than one metre deep. At theZuidplein in the Zuidas, 70 trees were planted in tree containers that form part of the structure of the car park
below. More than 19 different tree varieties were planted, making it not only an important windbreak, but also
adding some natural atmosphere to the square.

Smart Urbanization
Governing bodies in the northern wing of Amsterdam the “Noordvleugel” have
put together an extensive metropolitan development strategy, the: “Noordvleugel2040” whereby they are hoping to create a metropolis in which the advantages ofcity and countryside are closely interlinked. This strategy pays special attention tothe region’s landscape which is rich in conserved natural greenery.
The Noordvleugel is a unique system of urban networks and natural ecosystems
which are home to a richreserve of biodiversity and“Green Roads”
provides a wide array ofIn order help animals live in the busy
View of the Old Schans canal in the centre of Amsterdam at
ecosystem services such as:
city, Amsterdam has constructed
Queensday. On either side are old and young, resistant elms. In‘green roads’ These include grassy• use of the green
total the municipality of Amsterdam has more than 75,000 elms in‘animal highways’ alongside the A10
surroundings in care andmanagement.
highway ring and main railway tracks
welfare programmes;and ‘eco-ribbons’ that interlace the• food production for the regional market;
city’s green areas comprising of • uses in tourism/leisure/wellness;
sluices, linked gardens, embankments• water storage;
and tunnels. Park squirrels are now• ﬁltration of the air and thus improvement of the air quality
connected to the outside world, and• storage of CO2, by planting trees, for example.
polecats and foxes are making their
None of the landscapes in the region are the same and the core qualities of each landscapeway into the city parks in the outskirts
areclearly deﬁned to enable appropriate action plans for each.
of the city.

Involvement in international initiatives

For more info on this project, contact:
info@dro.amsterdam.nlIn June 2004, Amsterdam signed the Countdown 2010 declaration and pledged to invest
12 (has increased to 20 million 2006-2010) million Euro for investment in parks, landscape and biodiversity conservation and implement a2010 plan of action that will enhance the efforts already undertaken by the City of Amsterdam. They are also one of the 21 pioneer cities inICLEI’s Local Action for Biodiversity project and European leaders in the ﬁeld of biodiversity conservation.

City contacts & profile
AMSTERDAM covers 219 km2 and has a population of 751,757 people. It had a humble
start as a ﬁshing village in the 1300s and from 1568-1648, Amsterdam became one of themost important ports in the world. Although Amsterdam is intensely urbanized, 12% of its
area consists out of parks and nature reserves and the city is meticulous in planning new
developments to include green areas which are valuable for their ecosystem services as wellas the physical well-being of city residents.

More than a cultural centre, with a variety ofhabitats conserved both within and around thecity.

Name: Johan van Zoest/Geertje Wijten
Department: Physical Planning Department
E-mail: j.vanzoest@dro.amsterdam.nl; g.wijten@dro.amsterdam.nl
Website: www.dro.amsterdam.nl

LOCAL ACTION FOR BIODIVERSITY is a global urban biodiversity initiative of ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability in cooperation with IUCN. This pilot project of 21 cities aroundthe globe focuses on the key roles that local governments play in conserving the worlds biodiversity and retaining the relationship between people and nature. See: www.iclei .org/lab; lab@iclei .org
For more information on the Mayors Conference “Local Action for Biodiversity“ organised on the occasion of CBD COP 9 in Bonn, May 2008: www.iclei.org/biodiv-bonn2008
COUNTDOWN 2010 is a powerful network of more than 600 partners working together towards the 2010 biodiversity target. Each partner commits additional efforts to tackle the causesof biodiversity loss. The secretariat – hosted by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) – facilitates and encourages action, promotes the importance of the 2010 biodiversity target and assesses progress towards 2010. See: www.countdown2010.org
CITIES & BIODIVERSITY is an initiative of local governments and UN agencies to increase awareness on the relevant role of cities and towns for conserving and managing biodiversity.
See: www.iclei.org/biodiversity
THE “CITIES & BIODIVERSITY CASE SERIES” is started in 2008 on the occasion of the UNCBD Conference of the Parties (COP) 9 in Bonn/Germany in May 2008. Funding isprovided by UNEP, with co-funding from ICLEI, IUCN and the City of Bonn. The case descriptions are compiled by the “Local Action for Biodiversity (LAB)” project team in the ICLEI Africa
Secretariat and ICLEI‘s International Training Centre.
© UNEP & ICLEI, 2008. Pictures, texts and quotes are free of use with a reference to this source.

www.iclei.org/lab
www.unep.org/urban_environment

AUGUST 2008