Urban rivers are a rapidly degrading environment which, through careful co-design utilising traditional indigenous environmental knowledge systems, could become sustainable ecosystems and future-conduits for multiple species.
Paper long abstract:
Urban rivers are one of the most polluted water sources on our planet, yet they are a place where humanity and animals congregate. They are spaces where biodiversity is rapidly being destroyed by trash, industrial pollution, sewage and uncontrolled development. But the rivers weren’t always like this. What has changed in the past 20, 50, 100 years, causing the riparian zones to become a no-go zone for nature? What attitudes or loss of traditional knowledge has altered the way we see and interact with the rivers? Why have the riparian zones in cities become less important? What have we lost by destroying the health of rivers and riparian zones? By engaging local elders, community groups, schools and government officers, we can use ‘the old ways’ to plan for ‘new ways’, and co-create our collective futures.