The project which aims to address significant scientific knowledge gaps on the role of urban biodiversity and ecosystem services for human well-being.

Bridging science and policy
The project, called Urban Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (URBES), will focus on translating research on functional diversity, urban ecosystem services, institutions, economics and resilience science into principles for innovative landscape designs and green urban development.

Based on studies of Berlin, Stockholm, Rotterdam and Salzburg, URBES will also pioneer the development of the TEEB- approach in an urban context and integrate monetary and non-monetary valuation techniques, explore their governance implications and develop guidelines for implementation in urban landscapes.

"Together with ICLEI and IUCN, we will develop a professional communication and training programme  and will actively link to important policy mechanisms and contribute to global partnerships with such as CBD, TEEB, IPBES, as well as with EU on the post-2010 EU Biodiversity Strategy. We will also provide input to national biodiversity strategies and environmental objectives," says centre researcher and project coordinator Thomas Elmqvist.

Lead by Stockholm Resilience Centre, the URBES project consists of some of the top institutes in Europe for addressing interdisciplinary research on urbanism, biodiversity and ecosystem services:

The Humboldt-University (HU)
The Technical University of Munich (TUM)
University of Salzburg (US)
The Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics
The Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW) at the University of Kiel
Mistra Urban Futures (MUF)
Erasmus University Rotterdam (Erasmus University Rotterdam with the Dutch Research Institute For Transitions (DRIFT)
The University of Helsinki (UH)