The Wildlife-Friendly Cities Initiative

With the initiative “Wildlife-Friendly Cities” our goal is to raise awareness that cities represent a home to numerous animal species, so we need to provide them a safe environment in which they can evolve. On one hand turning green spaces into concrete jungles poses a challenge to animals to either adapt to these newly created spaces, to migrate and / or to perish. On the other hand, animals that man has tamed and then left to their own devices, remained near humans and learned to survive in our concrete forests.

Due to these facts, the terms “beneficial” animals and “pest” should get omitted in this discourse. Humans must take responsibility, because with our activities we largely define the life cycles of many species or otherwise interfere with them. We are facing many challenges as the increasing urbanisation and overpopulation are opening up new issues, which will indefinitely require a multidisciplinary approach and the establishment of regional and national guidelines.