Skip to content

Column: City leadership needed on green spaces, biodiversity

Residents appreciate Coquitlam’s greenery, considered by many as one of the city’s defining characteristics.
ioana
Ioana Bisca

Residents appreciate Coquitlam’s greenery, considered by many as one of the city’s defining characteristics. Whether it’s a park or a wilder environment, residents admire our green spaces. Unfortunately, admiration does not always equate to knowledge about and advocacy for healthy, biodiverse environments.

What appears to the average resident as a green bush producing tasty berries may on closer inspection be an invasive Himalayan blackberry that suppresses local biodiversity. Invasive species threaten our ecosystems, dominating native plants and making it difficult for them to thrive, or even survive. Certain species can monopolize green spaces.

Engagement and education are paramount to preserve biodiversity in our outdoor spaces and to preserve these spaces themselves. Explicit policies and action plans that engage and educate the community regarding outdoor issues can turn more admirers of nature into advocates of these spaces.

I’m taking part in a hands-on outdoor course at Simon Fraser University in which I’m learning about issues such as invasive and native species. Now that I know more about the consequences of different plants, like the Himalayan blackberry, I walk through Coquitlam’s forests noticing different species and questioning whether they contribute to a diverse, sustainable ecosystem.

Coquitlam put forth its Invasive Plant Management Strategy 10 years ago, pointing to plant species that are a threat in the area and outlining control activities. The report includes mention of community education and outreach but lists that as a role of stewardship groups, not the city.

In contrast to Coquitlam’s decade-old strategy, Vancouver’s 2016 Biodiversity Strategy outlines not only ecological goals to be achieved but, also, human-centred strategies such as connecting individuals to natural spaces. It specifies actions such as creating collaborations between community groups at biodiverse spots to increase education and stewardship opportunities. By pointing to particular actions, the city can be better held accountable for its follow-through.

Fortunately, Coquitlam is beginning to step up. In recent years, the city conducted a wide-ranging assessment of parks, recreation, and culture. It put forth a master plan examining a variety of aspects, including natural green spaces and parks, and created an implementation strategy for the various components.

The strategy briefly mentions fostering community connection to parks and access to nature education. But the master plan identified a gap in natural green spaces in that there is no dedicated centre to support public education. Biodiversity itself was not central to the assessment and recommendations put forth.

Co-ordinating a central hub to enable community education would allow for better engagement, and it’s an idea the plan recommends considering. Another recommendation: “Build community support for the preservation and conservation of natural areas through education and volunteer engagement initiatives.”

These suggestions have the right idea but seem to end at the recommendation level. It remains to be seen how Coquitlam will move forward to implement them through specific actions.

We need to make greater efforts to capture the interest of those who make use of and enjoy our outdoor spaces but are not yet passionate about maintaining them. Whether it is about biodiversity or park space, community members will be the ones having to advocate for and apply pressure regarding these issues. In doing so, delicate relationships in ecosystems can be supported and residents can continue to make use of these spaces.

By further engaging the community with green spaces and biodiversity issues, Coquitlam can ensure the city will be sustainable in the future.

Ioana Bisca is an undergraduate Health Sciences student at Simon Fraser University.